This lilac lives in the wild end of our garden, and last year I had to rescue the poor thing as it was being swamped by next doors bushes. It had tried hard, growing long spindly branches that, to be honest, were going nowhere. Consequently, I ended up pruning it back along with everything else. I dodged the showers to see how well it had recovered. The new growth was amazing, but at first glance, I couldn’t see any flowers. Looking closer, I found the purple flowers hiding among the leaves…

Although I was ecstatic that it was doing its best to flower, I wanted more, and I found this one!

This magnolia was a birthday present several years ago, and has been slow to get started.

So I was delighted to see this year’s efforts!

This apple tree was a present to me. Just four feet high and is supposed to have two kinds of apples.

Seeing as this is the first time it has flowered, I will have to see what happens!

Last but by no means least, this glorious rhododendron is the queen of my garden at the moment.

I posted a photo of the buds last week, so here she is in all her glory!