It was the best of years and the worst of years!

2013 It was the best of years and the worst of years!
It began with warm weather bringing every thing on rather too soon.
Next it rained. Then it rained some more. And just as we thought we'd had enough it rained even more. The plants were drowning and the grass was like a bog. Lawnmowers were defeated and their wheels spun until the lawns were ruined.
The sun arrived. It remained day after day. It was great. The grass dried out, the lawnmowers were repaired and the grass was cut. The sun remained. Walking on the grass was like walking over concrete. The benefit was no need to cut the grass for weeks. However the newly planted flowers and shrubs sulked and refused to grow.

I had used all the water from my rain tub so began watering every evening. Of course tap water is not like rainwater and it just kept the plants alive but they didn't flourish.
Then whilst I was in UK for a fortnight it rained and saved many lives including some of the dahlias that I had given up on and the gladioli that I had forgotten.

 

The cosmos continue to give pleasure and look good next to the Michaelmas daisies. I didn't know the butterflies liked the Michaelmas daisies but they were absolutely covered. There were more than on the buddleia. Unfortunately my camera is not up to the job.