The title of this post alludes to Lyn of Tawa‘s chaotic colour schemes. My gardening is similarly chaotic: there is no planned colour scheme here. In fact, I took a step backwards on opening the blind on Sunday morning. I’ve been away for six days and the growth in the garden is overwhelming.

It’s a joy to muck about in the garden since I’ve been back. I’ve heard of people who have ripped out all of their roses because they are ‘too messy’. Messy could pretty much describe my garden and that is how I like it (with limits!) particularly after reading about how our efforts to control nature aren’t the best for the environment. Nature seems to have its own ideas, anyway.

I pruned the Cecile Brunner rose extensively, and it has carried on regardless.

Just as I enjoy “book bathing” in bookshops, I feel as if I’m “garden bathing” at home, surrounded by the green of waist-high Japanese anemones (they flower later in summer) while fox gloves and roses tower above me.

I can pick flowers with no impact on the visual explosion. Some of these flowers were rescued from branches broken by the wind. The sweet peas are a summer favourite. The red roses in the vase are Precious Platinum from a plant transplanted from my mother’s former house.

This morning I found the strawberries ripening in the little greenhouse. A feast for the eyes – and for the taste buds before long.