Jubilee

This is the most vigorous tree in our orchard. Planted in 1999, it has a trunk 20-30cm in diameter and an almost spherical crown - like a tree drawn by a child - that must be 8 or 10 metres high. We have never done much to nurture it - another example of the benefit of benign neglect - and it has rewarded us with its vigour, its profile, its shade... and barely a bowlful of fruit if we put all of its summers together!

This year, the trees are suffering terribly. We have not had the substantial storms or sustained rain that many areas - some nearby - have benefited from. Leaves are folding, turning and dropping. Mildew is rampant on some of the apple trees. Today I carried water to some saplings that I don't think would otherwise make it through the next wave of arid heat that is just starting

In the midst of all this stress and distress, the Old Greengage has chosen this year as the one on which to forego all its past parsimony and produce abundant fruit. Despite the drought, it seems green and untroubled. The fruit are still hard, but we are well aware that plums and gages can go from bullets to liquifying in a day or two. We will need to be alert

Stories about the origin of the variety date back to the 16th century, when it was probably introduced from France. 'Gage' is not some ancient English word for a type of fruit, but the name of an aristocratic English family that got attached to it at some point

Who knows when it started its journey into Europe from its native west Asia. Perhaps this is the first summer since 1999 it has felt at home here

(The upright tree in the far distance is a Wellingtonia)