Fine weather for the first few days of the month, but heavy rain on the 6th and 7th. The weather remained unsettled with sunny periods and scattered heavy, thundery showers for the next week or so, with the temperature dropping to an unseasonable 7°C overnight. However, beautiful weather followed for the rest of the month - proper summer weather - clear blue sky and glorious sunshine, in fact, a veritable heatwave! We're not used to this....... Maximum temperature 30°C (86°F); minimum temperature 7°C (46°F).

Well, the tadpoles which I put into the new little pond on the patio in April seem to be faring well! On the 6th of July I noticed hordes of little froglets, some still with small tails, gathering around the rim of the pond, trying to get out. Baby newts were also seen swimming about; these are much slimmer than the froglets, with much longer tails. The picture shows one of these baby frogs on a plant of Pistia stratiotes (water lettuce), waiting to jump out of the pond. There are still some larger tadpoles left swimming about, but their legs are much smaller, and they still have long tails. Now and again, towards the latter part of the month, miniature frogs could be seen hopping about on the patio - aaahh, bless!

I don't have many Roses in the garden, but this is one which I love at this time of the year, when it is in full flower. It is Rosa filipes 'Kiftgate'. It's not a rose for the faint-hearted, as it clambers for a long way up into the trees, and has even managed to climb along half of next door's garden as well! It has enormous clusters of tiny creamy-white flowers which smell divine, and are followed by clusters of red berries in autumn. The picture shows just a bit of the plant, looking up into the trees, and in the foreground are the tops of the huge white flower domes of another giant plant, Heracleum mantegazzianum, the Cartwheel flower. On the extreme left of the picture you can just see the blue foliage of the Blue Spruce, Picea pungens 'Glauca'. The Heracleum is a biennial plant which one is not allowed to buy seeds of any more, as it's sap can be extremely irritating to sensitive skin, and can cause nasty lesions, and a sensitivity to light. I'm always careful when I am anywhere near it, and always wear rubber gloves when I am cutting it back. I'm also careful not to let it self-seed outside of the garden, and only keep a few seeds each year to keep it going. I bought the original seeds of this one nearly 20 years ago. It's a plant which again needs plenty of space, as its leaves can grow to a metre long and almost as wide. It's done exceptionally well this year due to the wet spring and early summer, and has reached about 4 metres in height (about 12 feet). An interesting fact is that wasps use the pith inside the dried stems to build their nests, and in the spring, if the old stems are still in place, you can hear them rasping away, collecting their building materials!

One of the most stunning plants in flower this month is Crocosmia masonorum 'Lucifer'. It grows to around a metre in height, with long, pleated leaves, and the most beautiful bright red flowers. I have two clumps of this plant, and the one clump flowers before the other, due to its being on a higher level in the garden, and in a more shady position. This means the flowering season is prolonged, though! The seed heads of this plant are interesting too, and useful in autumn flower arrangements.

Gravel is well-known for being a good medium for germinating seeds, and the gravel between the slabs on the patio has certainly proven this! I never weed out seedlings until they are big enough for me to identify them, as quite often, the seedlings are not weeds, but interesting plants! Germinating in the gravel this year I have found Borago officinalis (Borage), which I haven't grown for at least two years, Libertia grandiflora, Salvia argentea, (this was lucky, as I lost the parent plant in the cold and wet winter last year), Phytolacca americana (Pokeweed), and this interesting purple leaved seedling pictured left. This was a complete mystery to me for weeks, as I couldn't remember growing any purple leaved plants in the patio area last year. The seedlings were coming up everywhere - in the gravel, and in pots of other plants. It wasn't until I saw a picture in a magazine that it jogged my memory.... It was Salvia 'Purple Knockout', a plant which I bought last year with purple leaves and beautiful deep purple flowers. Unfortunately, the winter killed it, even though I had moved it to the greenhouse for protection. I'm really delighted that it has seeded itself so freely, as it is such a beautiful plant. The moral of the story is not to weed too assiduously, as you might well be pulling up a little treasure!

Hemerocallis (Day Lilies) are in full flower at this time of year, and although each flower only lasts a day, there are so many buds on the plant that there is always a succession of flowers. One of my favourites in flower at the moment is 'Mountain Laurel', which is a beautiful shade of red. Weather conditions this year have been so good for it, with no shortage of rain in the spring and early summer, that it has never looked so good, and is covered in these large, velvety flowers!

Butterflies seen this month - Peacock, small Tortoiseshell, Fritillary, Ringlet, Gatekeeper and Large White.

Birds seen (s) or heard (h) in or around the garden this month - Blackbird (s), Blue Tit (s), Bullfinch (s), Chaffinch (s), Collared Dove (s), Crow (s), Goldfinch (s), House Sparrow (s), Magpie (s), Robin (s), Rook (s), Seagull (s), Starling (s), Swallow (s) Thrush (h), Tree Sparrow (s), Woodpecker (h), Wood Pigeon (s), Wren (s).

When you are younger you get blamed for crimes you never committed, and when you're older you begin to get credit for virtues you never possessed. It evens itself out.
I. F. Stone