St Vitus's Day

15th June was St Vitus's  Day and the rhyme goes

If St Vitus Day be rainy weather
It will rain for forty days together 


Farming lore also promises that 'If on 8th June it rain, that foretells a wet harvest, men sayen'

Dreaming of sunshine

The rain certainly has 'raineth every day', keeping snails and slugs very happy but the rest of us have been very unhappy indeed, including Pablo who kept going to the door, looking out and turning back. He dodged the showers by hiding underneath the cars and to compensate has spent most of June to date asleep.




Unable to garden, I have visited lots of garden centres, trying to decide which plants to buy with my  birthday garden tokens. Because I am able to buy plants, I couldn't decide what to chose and so chunks of the borders are still bare of perennial planting. I have added some pre-sown annuals - salpiglossis, nasturtium and cosmos and have scattered nigella, cornflower and various poppy seeds - but, like a child in a sweet shop, I still can't make my mind exactly what effect I want to achieve but I am enjoying trying to decide.

Finally, today, the rain stopped and the sun came out and Pablo got to spend time in the summer house.








 The garden has become a jungle - a  riotous mix and tangle of weeds and flowers.

Rampant shuttlecock ferns

The smell of new-mown grass - as husband Glynn, in common with most of the neighbours, dashed madly around the lawn, mower at the ready -  together with the glory of the welcome sunshine which lit up the rampant borders to perfection, almost made up for the long wet days.

iris sibirica plus various perennial geraniums

'What is one to 
say about June, the time of perfect young summer, the fulfilment of the promise of the earlier months, and with as yet no sign to remind one that its fresh young beauty will ever fade'

Gertrude Jekyll