Last year I had so much water soldier I was giving it away and putting armfuls on the compost heap. This year it had all disappeared. I saw a few remains covered in great pond snails, and again suspected their delinquent behaviour. See here and here.

I put a plant kindly donated (returned) by Annie in the pond yesterday, and today shook these snails off it. There were no snails on the plant when I put it in the pond. I’m afraid they went on the compost heap.

Next day

Not as many as yesterday, but still a substantial number. And at least ⅓ of the plant has been eaten.

The hypericum ‘Hidcote’ in F2 put on a terrific display, but they’d got too big and dominant. See these pictures from last year. There were originally four plants here. One I dug out in 2019. I removed another today and cut another right back, leaving just one untouched.

I had plenty of sun loving perennials in pots to plant out in the gaps.

The santolina clearly likes it here. I’ve taken some cuttings, and I’ll try to reduce it’s spread over the pavement. Perhaps it will grow a bit from the base now its no longer covered by the hypericum.

These are my 3 hydrangeas today, having been pruned at the end of March. ‘Bluebird’ and the white mophead are superb, but the lacecap in B2 seems to be all foliage and no flower.

The lacecap in B2 has looked much better in the past (August 2017), but I can’t remember how I pruned it for this effect. It’s likely I pruned it to the ground whan I made the garden in late 2015 / early 2016. Perhaps it flowers on old wood, and what I should do is cut the stems which have flowered to the ground in spring, leaving new stems to flower later in the year.

When I got compost from various sources during the spring compost crisis, I tested each batch by growing some broad beans in pots of each. They all did well, with no sign of persistent weedkiller damage. It seemed a shame to put the healthy plants on the compost heap, so I grew six plants on in pots and eventually got a few tasty beans from them.

Spectacular fruiting bodies in this pot. They’re not growing on the plant, I’m glad to say, but presumably on all the wood in the late lamented Cowbridge Compost.

What is the fungus? Might it cause trouble?

This is the first attempt at windproofing the potted brugmansias which have been kept in the house over winter. Quite a neat effect, and really shouldn’t blow over.

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This pot was buried in the gravel near the garage. Different, but still pleasing, effect.

These narcissi had finished flowering in pots. I planted them out in beds rather than trying to keep them for repotting later this year. It’s easier to get new bulbs. Anyway, I’m not so keen on narcissi in pots, on their own or with something else.

• Narcissus ‘Thalia’
• Narcissus ‘Kinglet’
• Narcissus ‘Lieke’