White lilac

Dear Readers, the garden is having both a good time and a not-so-good time. You might remember that I was replacing my shed: well, the good news is that the shed is no more, and the concrete plinth has been laid….

Shed-in-waiting….

The bad news is that the garden is piled high with the remains of the old shed, which is due to be going into a skip as soon as the guys who are doing the shed/the skip people/me can get our ducks in a row. Hopefully not too much longer, as it’s hardly relaxing to be sitting in the garden amongst all this carnage.

But the lilac is really lovely this year, as is the rowan, which is covered in blossom…

The bog bean is in flower….

The red campion and the garlic mustard are doing well…

…and the green alkanet is not at all bothered by anything going on in the garden. It’s even growing through the slats in the bench, cheeky plant…

But it is extremely popular with bees, so I forgive it for being a bit of a thug. If you look in the photo below you can see a blurred hairy-footed flower bee (female!) zipping away.

The balm-leaved deadnettle (Lamium orvala) is doing very well – the native deadnettles have never done well under the whitebeam, but this plant seems to be able to tolerate the dry conditions a bit more. Another bumblebee favourite.

And finally, some pendulous sedge has popped up again next to the pond, and the flower heads look as if they’re smoking when the wind blows them, they have so much pollen. I guess I’ll be pulling the seedlings off for some time to come…

So, what’s going on in your garden, lovely Readers? I feel as if everything has taken off at a gallop here in East Finchley. I just can’t wait to get my garden back….