I returned from a few weeks away to a garden on fast-forward. Convolvulus snaking everywhere, tradescantia multiplying and little cherry seedlings popping up. Agapanthus, my nemesis, is in flower and I want to snip the top of every one I see. Bright yellow broom is threatening to explode seed pods at any moment. There are about ten thousand daisies in the lawn but they can stay.
Is it a coincidence that most of the thriving plants were not planted by me? All the Rs are out: renga renga, rhododendrons, roses. Some small successes of ours along the path though: the manuka and little pratia alba have both managed a flurry of white flowers.
kōwhai 