The lavender is struggling

At this time of year the lavender should be looking and smelling fantastic, but with the wet weather we've been having, only some of the varieties have flowered. Others are trying their best, but the rain is spoiling the flowers. I'm not sure if I'll get a dry enough spell to pick the lavender flowers for drying this year. I love lavender, and I've written a whole article which you can see here all about How to grow and use Lavender Take a look for some beautiful pictures of lavender too.Here's one of the beautiful pictures of lavender as it should be.!

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I love lavender , but unless the rain stops and the sun comes out soon, I'll be without any dreed lavender for 2012.

Gertrude Jekyll is doing well this year

I love the rose, Gertrude Jekyll. I planted one a few years ago in the side garden, so that I could catch it's wonderful scent when sitting on my terrace. The problem was that the deer would eat the new shoots and Gertrude never reached her full potential.

Last year I moved the rose to the front garden. It's not ideal rose ground, being pretty stony, shallow soil, prone to drying out, but this year's odd weather seems to have suited the roses, and I have some gorgeous pink blooms.The rose was named after the gardener who did so much to promote and revive the English love of roses. You can buy a copy of her 1923 book that I think would make a wonderful gift for a gardener. I would love to receive this.

Click to see this on Amazon.co.uk.

Here's a picture of the Gertrude Jekyll rose so that you'll know what I'm talking about- "ah , yes, that's the one !" You knew you'd seen Gertrude Jekyll roses, but just couldn't quite remember exactly which rose the Gertrude Jekyll rose was!

This lovely photo of the Gertrude Jekyyl rose is thanks to T.Kiya on flickr