IT'S COLD UP NORTH

And the Rambling Rector rose is forty feet up the big ash and flowering.

No trail camera videos today - my son has borrowed it to catch which of the neighbours animals is using his lawn as a lavatory - and we have the results - it is his cat!

Bit of a gap since last blog - have been in Scotland to try and escape the cold wet weather - and succeeded as it was not bad up there.

We went to Corsock House Gardens again during the Spring Fling (look it up).

We have been before and love it.

But to get back to Rosside jungle.

The oriental poppies are out and the mixture of colour on the banking with aquilegias (now going over), catmint and calendulas I like.

Elsewhere everything is out of control, even the white hebe is flowering better than ever.

Have popped a few things in the veg beds and put some new asparagus in their bed. Poor show this year but I remember the wild asparagus growing on the dunes at Ainsdale and think our soil might be too heavy?

Saying that, the bottom garden is still a bog - marsh thistles, ragged robin, docks and flags -

And the really good news is the gunnera has survived the winter by the hedge stream.

This is a plant I first met in Logan Gardens as a lad and not long ago we went back. There is controversy over the plant as ?an invasive species but it certainly lends drama to a damp corner. And I would rather have it than Giant Hogweed, Japanese knotweed, skunk cabbage or Himalayan Balsalm.

So it is June and feels like early March - Global Chilling?

So I am in front of my ageing computer listening to Peter, Paul and Mary and Ray Charles. Perhaps I need Martha and the Vandellas - Heatwave?