The garden seems to be of two minds lately. Enjoying the bright light of the sun encouraging flowers to keep blooming. And, simultaneously, suffering from heat exhaustion and the lack of rain to counteract the heat. So, while flowers are blooming apace for the most part, some plants are slumping and withering. One of our astilbe plants gave up the ghost entirely.

When we left the house early this morning before breakfast to head up the street to plunge ourselves into the cool of the forest trails before the heat of the day set in and it would be too debilitating to undertake a long ravine walk with our little dogs, sun was streaming in bright, luminous gold toward the house and gardens.

We did a cursory early-morning inventory of various plants, in particular the new extended bed and the bloomers there seemed absolutely exultant that there is no relief for them from the glare of the sun since the spruce sitting nearby has no influence on casting shade other than on the opposite side of where they're planted. They don't look as though they're suffering, however.

The Great Daibutso, which when we originally placed him in a prominent spot above and within part of the garden dedicated mostly to various types of hostas has now been completely enveloped by the hostas, grown over the years into a robust forest of their own.

The Annabelle hydrangeas have begun their bloom. A particularly healthy one sits beside the side door of the house and its large, lush, gorgeous blooms are the purest of white with masses of tiny fluffy blossoms in a globular structure of pure architectural brilliance. Our blue and pink hydrangeas barely made it through the winter this year. When spring arrived their presence had been utterly reduced. They're growing, but there'll be no blossoms from them this summer.

All the garden urns and pots planted with annuals are holding their own. I'd like to fertilize them but when it's so hot so continuously it would place an additional strain on them, so I'll just have to wait for a propitious time when the temperature tones down a bit and have a go at it.When they were first planted a mix of garden soil, well rotted sheep manure and peat moss, and bone meal was sprinkled in before I planted the annuals.

The first of the self-seeding California poppies has bloomed and it's a dandy. One of the cannas has turned out a soft, emphatic pink colour. We've had orange and yellow and bright red canna lilies, but this is the first pink one we've ever enjoyed. One of the several I overwintered in the basement last year is still to bloom but it's healthy enough.