MIL's garden

Jane and I have been away for a few days, visiting her mother, who lives near Warrington. Since it is a long way for us to go, we don't go very often, and when we do we usually end up doing lots of "sorting out" - arranging things that Jane's Mum either can't do herself or doesn't like doing. One of the jobs undertaken this time was to arrange for someone to attend to her garden, which is very neglected these days. The garden is only small, but maintaining it is completely beyond the capability of someone who is nearly 90. In all honesty though it wouldn't take a huge effort to return the garden to respectability. In amongst the weeds and overgrown grass there are some nice plants.

I seem to recall having a debate with some of my readers a while ago about this one. Is it a Californian Poppy? Is it a Welsh Poppy?

There are lots of Aquilegias in the garden, although mostly they are plain pink or blue ones.

 This patch of Centaurea Montana (Perennial Cornflower) was looking very lush, although the flowers were still in tight bud.

Down by the back fence there is a big Redcurrant bush, its base concealed in foot-high grass, and a mass of Wild Garlic leaves.

The bush is "dripping" with flowers.

Many of them are already setting into currants.

Unfortunately the back fence is almost obscured by huge swathes of Goose Grass, aka Cleavers or Stickyweed.

It has even made its way into the deserted greenhouse, which in former years would have been packed with Tomato plants at this time of year. Desiccated and bleached white by the sun, the dead Goose Grass looks strangely sinister.

Round the side of the house, where a pile of mostly broken pots lurks, a patch of Golden Marjoram is enjoying being undisturbed.

There were plenty of these lurking there too...

I suspect that this clump of succulent Hosta will not remain in pristine condition for much longer, since Hosta is famously enjoyed by slugs and snails around the world.

I doubt whether these Bluebells were deliberately planted, because they seem to spring up in every piece of neglected land, but they look beautiful nonetheless.

We hope that the arrangement that has been made will result in some order being restored to MIL's garden. I doubt that the gardener will make it pretty though. Tidy is the best we can expect.