:: garden update

I don't remember if I mentioned my latest purchases, for the front garden: I finally got a philadelphus (mock orange), a dwarf one, and also a bergamot and a geranium, a pretty lavender one. They sat out in the rain in their pots for a week and yesterday I planted them. The poor old daphne is still struggling -- it needs another dousing with sulphate. It's never flowered and always looks as if it's about to die. I may dig it up and transfer it to a pot round the back, where at least the neighbours can't see it. While I was at the garden centre I almost bought a new daphne -- theirs were large and glossily healthy -- but I'm afraid it would catch whatever disease this poor thing has. I should really just give up and burn it.

Also out the front, the rose hedge continues to grow like a creature from outer space -- I've hacked vast quantities off it (and still carry the scars), and of course Rosemary next door also attacked the section that was threatening her visitors, but it is still absolutely enormous. Once its leaves have fallen I'm cutting it right back, to the ground. It's a shame, because it's threaded through with honeysuckle. I'll have to try and preserve that somehow.

The climbing rose is doing splendidly, its flowers are a gorgeous velvety deep red and it's had lots this year. The shrub rose -- argh. Its root stock went crazy this year for some reason -- it was like the rose hedge's mad younger brother, a mass of foliage and white single flowers. The few pink hybrid flowers it produced were sickly-looking things lurking amid the pale riot. I'm tempted to rip the whole thing out and plant something else (maybe a magnolia or a flowering cherry), but I'm not sure how easy that would be. I settled for cutting out as much of the rogue growth as possible -- a wheelie bin full!

The back garden's a wild mess too, but its rose is doing exceptionally well. It was so weedy-looking last year I had plans to dig it up; this year it's flowered long and richly, a lovely splash of colour. It's a sweetheart rose, and the previous owner's daughter had its flowers in her wedding bouquet. Awwww!

The back all needs a bit of TLC, I haven't done any weeding for a while and the humid weather is perfect for weed growth.

I'm very much looking forward to the hedge-trimming exercise: I think I mentioned that Jim next door has a bad neck and can't manage his side of the hedge, so his brother is coming to mow it down to a reasonable height. That will let a lot more light into the garden, and should also improve the lawn. Bertie will also get a better view of whatever it is that fascinates him so much next door.

Speaking of Bertie, he is fine. I was filling his dish yesterday and noticed specks of fresh blood on the floor -- argh! It was just a little cut on his ankle, nothing too serious, so I taped a dressing on. His other cut is healing up fine, as is the wound left by the vet's big bandage on the cut. Such are the joys of having a thin-skinned pet.

Work, work, work! The festival started officially today, with the Festival Cavalcade. Everyone was held up by road closures etc and we had early deadlines. I could moan about how hard it is to concentrate when there's a cocktail party in the same room but I won't. We hit the deadline, that's the main thing.