Heady scent

Jasmine

On returning to France we found the jasmine in full flower and its scent so powerful that with the back doors open it perfumes the whole house! The cape marigold planted under the blackberry is providing a superb display of flowers, tumbling to the floor; I will get more of these (in other colours) to plant in the front garden. I'm relieved to discover that there are signs of life in plants which might have died due to the lack of water in Feb/Mar; just two tiny shoots on the kumquat, but the lemon tree has many leaves starting to open, and the potted hydrangea, whose leaves were shrivelled, now looks nice and healthy. I think I've lost the lavender and white gaura though, so will replace those. Now in full leaf, it's obvious that the wisteria is coming back to life; it will be fed throughout the season and maybe we'll have a good display of flowers next spring.

Cape marigold

The weather is fine and sunny and we've put the gardenia back outside. It's looking great at the moment after its winter indoors. There is some other colour in the garden - the roses are starting to open, the clematis is in full bloom, and there is blossom on the fruit trees - in fact the fruit is already setting! However, I would like to see more colour and will be thinking what to plant next to achieve that.