patience is rewarded

After the gym I packed away a lot of winter clothes in the camphorwood chest and took out the summer stuff. Then I spent the rest of the day reading my book in the sun, occasionally looking up at this magnolia.

When we moved her 11 years ago and we had the terrace made, a small digger had to make its way through the garden, and inevitably some plants were destroyed, so we looked at neighbouring gardens to see what - other than azaleas and rhododendrons - grew well here, to fill the gaps. Our neighbour had a splendid magnolia so we went for that. But it struggled over the years, never really growing much and getting beasties eating the new leaves. For the last couple of years we have sprayed it and given it lots of water, and at last it is looking better.

No doubt saying this means I've put a jinx on it - not to mention the likelihood of cold weather now I've packed up my woollies and put the summer duvet on the bed.