Blue sky and brown lawn

I was asked for pictures. I took pictures.





The soil in my garden is sand on gravel and it's a dry part of the country anyway, so I've always taken this into account with planting. In this exceptional heat, however, even good-natured shrubs like hebe and potentilla are shrivelling up, although they have have been there for years and are well established. The gravel area is doing pretty well; not much is flowering any more but I allowed for that with variations in leaf colour.

The grass is almost completely brown. The ragwort manages to stay alive, but it will be pulled up of course, it's poisonous to grazing animals (the poison is stored in the liver and will kill them over time if they eat enough). However, the cinnabar moth caterpillar lives on it and is impervious to the toxin.










The trees are still green, though they will lose their leaves early this autumn.
















































Masonry bees have lived in this ancient wall for years.
Goosey and the chickens manage to find some shade.








































There are still some flowers in bloom however. Some of these are in tubs. I grow most flowers in tubs as they are more manageable to water.




















































And the greenhouses are cropping well. The jalapeño peppers are not hot yet, I ate one yesterday that didn't have a hint of heat, but in a few weeks they will smart nicely on the tongue.














































And, just to finish with, the chimneys. The Tudor and the Victorian ones.