Green and Brown

The annual hack of the unmown areas, which I hate, has started. Hay's sister, as the prime mover on leaving vast swathes of the communal garden unmown for the bugs, has accepted it's her responsibility to perform the main strim, while I go over it with the Flymo to reduce the resulting stubble to grass level.

What was a magnificent display of crocosmia around the house toward the end of July has been reduced to a frazzled mass of brown due to the lack of rain.

However, they're still resplendent in the more shaded areas of the house.

The pond has dropped by more than a foot - it desperately needs lots of rain - but it has miraculously stayed relatively clear, meaning the plants at the shallow end are doing their work at filtering the water.

There again, Hay and her sister are in it almost every day, clearing any pond weed and swimming. The goldfish my mate put in there last year is now allegedly about a foot long, but I've rarely seen it as it tends to lurk among the weed and plants.

The fruit trees are doing just fine - plums, greengages and apples galore.

This Italian pine (Stone Pine), like the archetypes you see in the Italian countryside, has been in this position for about 3 years now and is growing like wildfire. 

The Monkey Puzzle, which languished for years in a pot and grew very little, is now 8 feet tall and performing well in its location by the pond. It's growing at around a foot a year, and accelerating.