The white flag iris, Iris pseudacorus ‘Crême de la crême’ was obviously better last week, when I was away, but it’s still lovely today.

The greater spearwort has now migrated all over the pond from wherever I planted it, so I’ll need to pull some out.

The Rosa complicata is just starting to flower. I need to prune it better next time.

Foxgloves are everywhere, but that’s fine.

This cardoon is now six feet tall, and unsupported. I suppose that’s asking for trouble. We’ll see.

This osteospermum is the only one of the four I’ve planted that’s survived. Odd, considering how well it does in other gardens round here.

Large flowered clematis from original garden is really good this year. I wonder what variety it is. I need to think about pruning, perhaps after first flowering.

Clematis ‘Ville de Lyon’ is not so good this year. When should I prune it? After fist flowering in early summer and in late winter / early spring? Feed?

There are only about 3 allium plants left from the 10 pots of sprouting bulbs I planted 3 years ago, which did really well in the first year. This is partly due to other plants overwhelming them – fair enough. Also, I let the plants go to seed, because the seed heads look very attractive. A gardener at the National Botanic Garden said they will become weaker if you don’t dead head. The solution is to plant fresh each year. I’ll try planting some bulbs myself in pots or troughs this summer, and plant them out next spring.

The National Botanic Garden prune their Perovskia really low. Nice effect

The wisteria is producing no flowers yet, but it’s shape is much better.

The euphorbia is big, and will need to be cut back soon. See what I did last year.

The acer was the plant most affected by the recent high winds. Will it recover this year?

The bay looks much better now I’ve cut quite a bit off the top.

The cistus in F2 has flopped right over, but is flowering well.

The clematis montana is going up the ropes well. Rosa ‘Albertine’ shouldn’t be far behind.

The solanum will need a bit of tidying up when it’s finished flowering.

The cirsium in B2 look nice.