Bright and beautiful

These Astrantias have been coming on for a couple of weeks now and the combination of rain and sun over the last few days has really brought them out. I think we’ve had them about three years and I’m delighted they are back and doing so well. They are quite a deep pink but I can’t remember the name of the variety. ( Think it might be  ‘Sparkling Stars’ Pink) 
A glorious day so we’ve both been in the garden all morning. Lots of other things have grown in these wet and warm conditions so I’ve been weeding and tidying. Chris has been cutting back an Azalea that hasn’t done well for the second year, it’s very tangled with winter heather so it’s been quite a big job. We’re clearing quite a few things from the garden so we can put in some new replacements. As the Astrantia has done well I decided to get another slightly paler one to put nearby. We’ve tried Rudbeckias in this spot several times and they haven’t come back so I hope we have better luck with more of  these.

I walked into the village garden centre (not far - the same place we had lunch yesterday) but I made the mistake of going in what I thought were very comfy flip flops. It was like doing a workout for my legs and I think I’ve rubbed up the sole of my foot!

Bedding, mattress cover, kitchen and cloakroom rugs all washed and dry. This sunny weather is exhausting!
Tempting to keep going but I think we need to stop now and do more tomorrow before we are both wrecks. 

The extra shows a bee on the Astrantia flowers before the sun was on them. Lots of bee activity today even on the clover in the lawn which is very close to the ground had to be careful where I stepped. while looking at the Astrantias I heard a very loud ‘Hello’ from above, it was Elvis on the roam from his cage.


I finished reading Raising Hare last night. A joyous read and I already feel bereft without it