How does your garden grow?

Every day, every week, every month comes some

new increment to the achievement here in the

tiny courtyard behind the lock-up.

Plants of all shapes and sizes, whether begged,

borrowed or stolen are all beginning to come together

to form a homogenous whole.

Each plant has it's own special place in the great

scheme of things and it's own little corner of my heart too.

I knew I'd find a place for them somewhere.

The three beautiful camelias which I inherited from the

previous owner are getting a bit past their best now

but considering they provided the only hint of colour

in the entire place way back in January I can hardly

complain if they step back and give some of the newer

arrivals a chance to shine.

The white jasmine which I got from the market has

a beautiful perfume especially towards the end of the

afternoon.  The hucheras, of which there are many,

are all standing up straight and paying attention and

the sweet peas are beginning to swarm up the string supports

like sailors in the rigging.

However there is one fly in the ointment.

The Kentish hop plant must be sleeping of a beery hangover

because it is very late indeed in putting in it's appearance.

Having nearly broken my neck climbing onto the pergola

to make sure it had the correct hemp strings "to aid its

greyhound like growth" (I am quoting from the brochure

here) it has so far repaid my efforts with one very weedy

little tendril of a rather sickly hue.

We shall see.  It's still early days so I think I will

threaten it with being replaced with a Russian vine and

see whether that makes it buck it's ideas up a bit.