Dwarf bearded irises and late April showers

We had such an unexpectedly brilliant bank holiday weekend that I was inspired to leap out of bed and almost straight out into the garden. (I loved the early morning light on my breaksfast, left!) Now it seems May has brought us April showers and a return to cooler temperatures. Professional gardener friends tell me their seedlings are hardly growing, it's been so cold and my grass seed has only just begun growing during the past week. But not everything is so shy. There is a thick carpet of leaf-growth over wilder areas of the garden - wild strawberries and aquilegia leaves tangled with rampant lily of the valley on their intrepid march towards the house.

Among the more exciting developments in the past week are the first flowers on two of three dwarf bearded irises I bought a few years back from Wootton's. The third seems to have disappeared. It is difficult keeping the corms exposed to enough sunlight in my overcrowded little space. But it is worth every bit of effort - as you can see. The other really satisfying development is that my neighbours have had their fence fixed and I managed to dodge the showers yesterday to wire in the flowering stems of loganberry. Also happily it doesn't look too new! The scented clematis montana seems to have survived unscathed and I have been prompted to give the the akebia quinata a major cut back. I will try and keep things a bit more under control from now onwards (ha ha ??)