The garden update for the day is a consensus of two that we are mightily pleased with its progress.  The climbing roses have initiated their June bloom, and the Icelandic poppies have opened their large, beautiful and blowsy blooms; the orange ones are lovely but the pink are hugely spectacular

The magenta-flowered rhododendron is just about finished its bloom, and in its place the bright pink one is in full, fresh flower.

The clematis vines are progressing not in concert with one another, but in their own inimitable way, some of them blooming, others preparing to bloom with large, luscious buds ready to open, while others are still lazily making their way up the trellises too busy growing to form flower buds for the moment.

In the backyard the mountain bluets are blooming, and the bearded irises and the Siberian ones as well.  The plantain lilies have assumed their full height and width, in all their sizes and colour combinations, filling in the garden landscape most satisfactorily.

The riot of texture, shadings and colour nuances please us enormously.  The little surprises that each day inevitably brings simply adds to the pleasure of our daily post-breakfast perambulations.

The work involved in caring for the garden, planning its aesthetic appeal, nudging it along, snipping back, tying up, staking, merely represents the caretaking aspect of the enterprise.  Its presentation as a living thing of glorious beauty is unsurpassed.