The lazy dog days of summer are here and there has been a heatwave. On intensely hot days, it is such a relief to feel the cool onshore breezes down in the secret garden.

The heat has been exhausting and the resultant drought has left everything so parched. But here, because of the winter’s rain, we have a store of ground water that keeps everything going until the storm season arrives. This month the statuesque agapanthuses have opened and they are glorious. After much coaxing, the gladioli have bloomed at last but they are easily blown over in the wind.

The spotlight though is on the sea lavender. It grows in all the in between spaces filling the voids with its haze of fine lilac flowers. They are a magnet for bees and butterflies.

And then there are the crimson geraniums that form an honour guard as you go down the steps to the house. What a welcome.

The heat has made progress on the wall repairs slow but there has been much hard work in draining the brackish pond. Our big fat red/brown toad and the green newts now have a refreshed home and the birds love their restored solar pump shower.

It’s a walk along the beach this afternoon and maybe a lemon curd ice cream for tea, and then a look for the dog star in tonight’s sky.

Come back next time for news of my book. The manuscript is complete, the ink drawings have been ordered and work is underway on the cover design. If the production guys can schedule it, a special edition will be ready for the autumn.

Flaming June has arrived. With its intense tropical heat and sudden summer downpours, the yellows and blues of the spring have given way to the more vibrant reds and oranges. The flaring poppies and flamboyant roses have arrived.

Around these parts, there is a local hybrid poppy which is self-seeded and very delicate. It’s not ‘flaming’ but it has a purplish-pink hue that compliments the ubiquitous erigerons that fill most of the underspaces around the flaming blooms.

Also self-seeded and growing wild are sage and foxgloves which are prolific in our weather.

The excitement of seeing what has burst into life is one of the great pleasures of gardening but there is a sadness too. The Japanese call it mono no aware – being sensitive to the transience of things. All this will soon be gone as the summer solstice has already passed and the days will start to get shorter again. Enjoying the moment is enough, especially down by the water waiting for the tide. In six hours all this that you see will be covered with water, a cycle that is repeated twice a day – mono no aware.

We now have over sixteen hours of light a day and it shows! My seaside garden is flourishing. It is due to the combination of intense heat on cloudless days mixed with drenching downpours from storms that blow in from the Atlantic now and then. As a result, my room with a view is surrounded by lush vegetation as is my writer’s lodge in the garden. The agapanthuses down in the secret garden have soaked it all up and they are getting ready to burst into flower.

If only you could smell the fragrances now filling the garden, especially in the early evening after a sunny afternoon. The Rosa Ragusa is magnificently fragrant. The wisteria is just going over but its fragrance still fills the air in the western garden and the red climbing rose by my study has just arrived on the scene for the summer. And a delicate honeysuckle has popped up in the middle of the quince – not sure where it came from but its lovely in the terraced garden.

It is a muddle of growth everywhere you look and even in the most inhospitable situations, something still manages to get going like the nasturtiums and foxgloves- all self-seeded.

My book is finished and the manuscript is with my editor while I sort the pictures and formatting. More news of this new phase next time so please come back to catch up on progress.

Surf’s Up!

We are now getting more of these bright sunny days to relieve us from the cold blasting winds from the east or the rolling fogs that creep in over the waters from the Bay of Biscay and the Atlantic ocean. The constant winter rains have soaked into the earth and, together with the spring’s warmth, have created the magical conditions for growth. The flourishing terraces are already full to bursting and the arum lillies are a real showstopper.

The agapanthuses grow wild here and they are another welcome sign of spring. Down in the secret garden, they have sprung into life and are getting their purple pompom heads ready for next month.

With the sun’s warmth, the buds are breaking out all over. The clematises and wisterias are promising many pink and purple flowers as they bask in the bright light.

The hard work season is coming with the repairs to the storm damaged walls and the veggies to be planted – spuds and garlic are going in this week. And my manuscript is ready. More news to follow on the tome and Many Thanks to the readers who commented on the draft opening chapters.

Come back next time to find out what has burst into life in May.

Spring has sprung and the light has come back! It is such a great feeling and it has been unseasonably warm, so much so that we were able to have lunch on the terrace overlooking the sparkling sea.

The small birds have returned too with sightings of greenfinches, chaffinches and goldfinches darting about amongst the ever-present gulls, cormorants and jackdaws. The garden is already full of life with daffodils and tulips that survived the storm blasting earlier in the month, and over in the west garden, campanula and primroses have come to life. Just waiting for the poppies and the gladioli to surface.

If only pictures could convey sounds you would be able to hear the constant buzzing of the many bees that are working the rosemary fountains and hellebores on the terraces. It’s the sound of spring.

There is much work to do to get the overgrown sage shrubs under control, the veggies planted and the storm damaged walls repaired. So, in between editing my manuscript and tending the storm blasted olive tree which has shed its leaves, that’s Easter sorted.

Have a Happy Easter and come back next time for a glimpse of May’s spring glory.

There is a cloud in the sky but all is well.

There have been blizzards and storms up country but in my seaside garden this past month, it has been very dry. The bright clear skies have resulted in intensely cold nights and, unusually for here, frost in the mornings. The winter clearing work has been done and it is now a time for planning, waiting and anticipating. The days are getting longer and the spring turn is about eight weeks away, but life is returning. The daffodils are already bursting out, about eight weeks early; the corner campanula and primula have started their growth spurt; and the heathers are full of foraging bees.

The RIBs and canoes are stowed and there is nothing to do except beach walking most afternoons.

It is the Chinese New year tonight and the start of the Spring Festival so Xin Nian Kuai Le and Welcome to the Year of the Tiger.

Come back next time for news of the book – almost there.

Winter has arrived! Just when I was enjoying the late autumnal sun in my room with a view, Storm Arwen, the first of the season, slammed in and made a right mess. The northerly gale brought polar air down from the Arctic and the temperature dropped to 2 degrees last night – very unusual for the seaside.

So the party is truly over and it’s now the job to clear the debris, mulch over and leave it all to rest until next spring. These were the last blooms of the year before the storm.

The Dogwood was already shedding its leaves to expose its ruby red stems and the storm has now finished the job. The claret sedums have hung on and the storm will have done it no harm in spreading its seed heads for new blooms next year.

As the season turns to winter, it is worth taking pleasure in small things. For me, it’s the steps down to the house which have just been paved. Just look at this brilliant workmanship. It takes real skill to place and level the very heavy paving slabs before they are secured.

So while we are all confined to quarters, it’s time to make progress with my novel. The rewrite is done, edits this and next week and then the final chapters. Might just get in below 100k. It’s like doing a PhD again but I’m enjoying it this time round.

By the time you come back on New Year’s Eve, Christmas will have been and gone so have a happy one!   

The storm season has arrived and we are well into autumn with its short chilly days. We have already had a lot of rain and there is the promise of much more as the Atlantic gets into winter gear. It’s not much fun gardening in these conditions especially when the fog rolls in or the wind picks up.

But there is the odd day when we get some weak sunshine which, although low, manages to create pockets of light. A newly planted arum and the old stalwart rosemary fountain and carpet rose can still sunbathe for a while longer. And the delightful campanulas and primroses on the corner of the west garden have already burst into life, about twelve weeks early.

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The big end of season clear out has started and while the look of autumn is emerging, there have been surprises. We found these heathers buried under the summer’s prolific growth and self-seeded sedums have popped out to give some rustic colour amongst the last of the season’s trailing roses. Meanwhile, the hydrangeas have faded and are going over.

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The hedgehog and cat have gone AWOL but along the coast there have been sightings of blue fin tuna and fin whales, both off course by many miles. The excitement has been enhanced recently when dolphins were spotted too. It’s all been a distraction from the task of finishing my novel but there has been progress, including searching for a title.

Come back next time for a peak of the cleared garden and a bulb-planting progress report.