Thriving

There’s been a lot of paperwork to catch up on after our holiday, which has meant that I’ve spent more time indoors on a beautiful sunny day than I would have liked. Never mind, we had lunch in the garden and will shortly be having supper there as well and I’ve also had some fun with my Merlin app, which is helping me become more familiar with the various bird songs I can hear out there.

Rhododendrons are Smithers’ favourite shrubs but they don’t thrive really on our clay soil. This year, however, they have come up trumps and are looking the best we’ve seen them for a long time. In the centre of these two is a Viburnum Plicatum ‘Kilimanjaro Sunrise’ which was the RHS Chelsea Flower Show Plant of the Year in 2015. I planted it in 2017 and it’s really starting to grow now and I’m very pleased with it.