indoors sort of a week
The longed for rain has finally come in abundance, knocking flat anything which we forgot to stake - thankfully very little - and pounding the petals off everything that's delicate. How grateful we are for it, though! The prospect of having to water our one acre plot was looming alarmingly close; usually we water generously when planting, and thereafter leave everything to its own devices. The whole aspect of the garden changes when we have big rain. If last week felt a little mediterranean, the strange rich grey-purple light of this week seems strikingly scandinavian and dramatic. The shrubs which we've planted since taking on the walled garden four and a half years ago have now reached maturity. The deep glossy foliage of the copper hazel and lacy black elder with its foamy pink flowers, along with the creamy-flowered common elder and lushly curling grass green hairdo of the wiggly willow - all these plants stand out strikingly with the strong colouring of a rainy day.