mid-June

Everything. The answer to what is out now is absolutely everything. Even the kitchen garden is full of roses, and the box beds are stuffed full of the last irises. The nigella that I was sure was going to be disappointingly blue turned out to have come true from last year’s seed and is the most perfect white. The first nasturtium, the first sweet pea. The second, third and fourth Agrostemma bianca, the white corncockle, with a rogue in pink, just for variety.

Peonies. More peonies than you can count, wherever you look. So dazzlingly white I can’t photograph them properly. The corals are over now, their place taken by the fat whites. I love the bud almost as much as I adore the flower. Piny streaks reach across the outer petals. Imperfectly perfect, like a sweet.

This is where all the work and the planning and the dreaming starts to come together. June. When the days are long, the sun is hot, and it is a joy to be alive.