I got down-hearted over the wind damage to my rose trellis this week. I  know that’s not that big a deal in terms of international natural disasters but it rattled my cage  and challenged my gardening instinct to remain optimistic about the ebbing and flowing of the seasons.

Yesterday the man came to fix it and, well, the world went wild with summer. What can I say but hello hot weather and hi to all these colourful hints of summer round the corner. I’m happy again now but then I’m a very superficial kind of person. I took these photographs yesterday and thought you’d like to see them too. I’m sorry you can’t smell them but that’s another story.

STEPHEN DEARSLEY’S SUMMER OF LOVE BY COLIN BELL

My novel, Stephen Dearsley’s Summer Of Love, was published  on 31 October 2013. It is the story of a young fogey living in Brighton in 1967 who has a lot to learn when the flowering hippie counter culture changes him and the world around him.

It is now available as a paperback or on Kindle (go to your region’s Amazon site for Kindle orders)

You can order the book from the publishers, Ward Wood Publishing:

http://wardwoodpublishing.co.uk/titles-fiction-colin-bell-stephen-dearsleys-summer-of-love.htm 

…or from Book Depository:

http://www.bookdepository.co.uk/Stephen-Dearsleys-Summer-Love-Colin-Bell/9781908742070

…or from Amazon:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=Stephen%20Dearsley’s%20Summer%20Of%20love

The post The sun came out here in Lewes and look what happened! appeared first on Wolfie Wolfgang.

It was the late comic actor Kenneth Williams who coined the phrase when playing a beleaguered Julius Caesar in one of the Carry On films. “Infamy, infamy! They’ve all got it in for me!”

 I knew just what he meant in my garden recently when Lewes, UK, first had the winds and then the rain. Look what they’ve done to my rose trellis, ma!

Those Flaming Parrots are drooping, heads down in their own tears…

The apple tree hasn’t blossomed this Spring….

…and the snails are back with a vengeance.

I’ve tried to stay calm, unlike Kenneth Williams’ Caesar, and carried on tending my strawberries, herbs and those great mid-seasonal flowers, the fragrant Sweet Williams.

Wallflowers always cheer me up between the end of the Spring bulbs and the beginning of the rose season. The pinks are in bloom too and there is no jollier or more beautiful pink flower around for the average English garden. So there is much going on out there to raise my spirits.

And as for those snails….well, one of them didn’t get away. Actually it was an accident not an assassination. Pity I didn’t have my boots on. I have to confess that I’m a bit of a Brutus as far as snails are concerned.

So my small town garden survives another day and, let’s face it,  green leaves on a wet day have a seductive beauty all of their own.

If the Kenneth Williams reference makes no sense to you, I suspect seeing it won’t make much  sense either but it always makes me laugh. Here it is – from the film Carry On Cleo (1964):

STEPHEN DEARSLEY’S SUMMER OF LOVE BY COLIN BELL

My novel, Stephen Dearsley’s Summer Of Love, was published  on 31 October 2013. It is the story of a young fogey living in Brighton in 1967 who has a lot to learn when the flowering hippie counter culture changes him and the world around him.

It is now available as a paperback or on Kindle (go to your region’s Amazon site for Kindle orders)

You can order the book from the publishers, Ward Wood Publishing:

http://wardwoodpublishing.co.uk/titles-fiction-colin-bell-stephen-dearsleys-summer-of-love.htm 

…or from Book Depository:

http://www.bookdepository.co.uk/Stephen-Dearsleys-Summer-Love-Colin-Bell/9781908742070

…or from Amazon:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=Stephen%20Dearsley’s%20Summer%20Of%20love

The post Infamy! Infamy! Lewes weather's got it in for me! appeared first on Wolfie Wolfgang.

There comes a time though, every year, when the Spring flowers fade and the Summer flowers are still on their way.

This, for me, is when the wallflower comes into its own.

I have now dead-headed the last of my late daffodils and all of my tulips and, suddenly, the garden is dominated by the enjoyably different shades of the wallflowers that I planted way back in October with that optimism about the future which is one of the pleasures of gardening. Then it was easier to tell that wallflowers are part of the brassica family, closely related to the cabbage and Brussells sprout.

They stood there, uncomplaining, through rain, wind, snow and frost and, having almost forgotten about them, I am ready now for those rusty tones of red, purple, yellow and brown that are the wallflowers special gift at this time of year. There is a quiet serenity about them I think because usually they have already started to flower before you notice them but they wait patiently until their flashier companions have left the stage and then, there they are, smiling, reassuring you that all is not lost and that seasons always move onwards with no reasons for regret.

They are called wallflowers because the wild varieties, native to Southern Europe, often cling to the most inhospitable walls finding just enough nutrition to survive in the brick mortar. This habit of clinging to the wall is why we use the term wallflower to describe those shy people who stand on the edges of the room at dances whilst their more extrovert friends are showing off on the dance floor.

Like my garden plants, I often think that shy friends are the ones I like best. Too easily underestimated, they are usually there when you need them, confident even if shy, introverted but thoughtful. Like the wallflowers in my garden too, often they are there offering reassurance and comfort when my more extrovert friends have moved on to the next party.

The post Don’t underestimate wallflowers appeared first on Wolfie Wolfgang.