It has hardly rained here since early May and the garden is getting a little stressed. The grass is turning brown and the soft fruit has been smaller than usual. The extra heat has been good for many of the plants though as long as we can keep them watered. Here’s a view across the lower garden with lots of brown grass but the Inula magnifica is in full flower just to the right of the pergola.

The bed below the cliff has filled out nicely this year. We planted a Lilium regale last year and it has produced a good display of large white flowers this year.

We are creating a pond in the lower garden but there was bedrock fairly close to the surface so it’s going to need a small retaining wall to get a bit more water depth.