A wild week of wind and weeds!

Is it me or does this year feel windier than usual? We had all sorts of storms with different names earlier in the year but even without them it has often felt very breezy indeed over the last few weeks! It meant staking everything I could in the garden, but even then there was little I could do to stop the petals being blown off the lilies almost as soon as they’d bloomed! Then again, I feel less aggrieved if the garden is hit by an act of nature – there’s little any of us can do to stop the wind, after all. My verbascum has grown taller than ever this year

– I think a good 2.4m (8ft) – so even when staked it sways around, rather gracefully, in the wind. Each morning it’s the first thing I check – at the time of writing, so far so good! When it’s not being battered by Mother Nature it’s beloved by all sorts of pollinators, which flock to its small, yellow flowers, so fingers crossed it makes it through the rest of the summer.

Something else that has been covered in critters is a feverfew that sprung out of nowhere in a raised bed and is seemingly a magnet for aphids. I figure if they’re there they’re not anywhere else so I’m leaving well alone at the moment!

It also begs the question of what, really, is a weed? I didn’t plant feverfew but it’s a rather handsome plant, smothered in small, daisy-like flowers (the hoverflies seem especially keen) and certainly doesn’t look out of place.

Whether it’s unseasonal high winds, or surprise ‘weeds’ among the roses, Mother Nature always keeps us on our toes – but we wouldn’t have it any other way! Have a great gardening week.