It’s all too late – nearly

Tortoiseshell butterfly on Zinnia

We have had a week that should have happened (at least for some of us) in a more summery timeframe. The light is now low,  it cools fast in the evenings,  the dew is heavy, but for a few hours we can bask in sun and warmth. The farmers are bringing in the last of the harvest as fast as they can having been delayed by the recent wet weather again.

Butterflies have rallied it seems, this week the Tortoiseshells of which there has been a distinct lack,  are now in abundance. A scattering of Red Admirals and Brimstone’s this weekend, Peacocks have gone again. Not so many Whites this year either.

Brimstone butterfly on Buddleia

So what has enjoyed the wet? Bindweed most definitely,  great swathes of it are weighing down hedges at the moment. There seems to be a lot of Impatiens glandulifera (touch me not) around. Great patches of Ragwort have adorned paddocks. In my Ma’s garden Heleniums have grown to epic proportions, the flowerbed is now all topsy turvy heightwise. Later flowering clematis have definitely had a good year.

Maybe some of the tenders like Brugmansia can have a late flower burst before the frosts with this warm spell, although rain is forecast again in the next few days.