Is your garden looking especially good this year??

I think it was the winter rains that formed the flowers.

I know that to get rhododendrons to flower well you have to make sure they aren’t short of water through summer and autumn. So I reckon the same of the summer flowering stuff.
Everything has flowered profusely so far this year.

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No because it's usually full of colour and we haven't been brave enough to go out to buy plants. Next year we will really go to town. Fingers crossed

Yes, mainly because the village open gardens event was cancelled. It wouldn't have been half so good if we were showing it to the rest of the village.

It is lovely and green with little bursts of colour.

Well, it was looking rather good but the incessant rain and high winds has put paid to that. My hanging basket looks like it's been in a wind tunnel for a fortnight and the pupils, delphiniums and geum have been battered to the ground, even though i staked them. And the birds have nicked every last blackcurrant from the bush.

Pupils?? Lupins!

I'm so disappointed in ours, it's usually a riot of colour. As I'm shielding I haven't been able to get out and buy stuff. We had one delivery from a garden centre and it was such a disappointment.

On the plus side, everything is very lush and green due to the incessant rain!!

Those norty birds Chewbacca ??
Our lawns aren’t looking good unfortunately, too much dry weather which means re-seeding at some point.
Most of the colour has now gone as with all the months of hot/warm weather it peaked early.Since we aren’t going out to garden centres we aren’t buying colour for pots/ hanging baskets either.Still, there are a lot of different greens with some poppies, scabious roses and marigolds in flower and also erysiums.There’s nothing to do at all, it looks very neat and tidy and really just needs regular watering.

Ah! Now the lawn is a whole different kettle of fish lemon! I decided to weed & feed the back lawn, being mindful that, once the weeds were killed off there would be precious little left. However, whilst I was so carefully measuring it out by the square yard, I hadn't noticed that there was a hole in the bottom of the box. So the lawn is now black in huge swathes where I walked across it.

Has anyone with ivy in their gardens seen it dying?

I have some growing up a side fence and the leaves develop a brown pattern among the green, then go completely brown and are die.

I've never seen that before and I've been pulling the dead ones off as they look awful.

There is no mould or fungus on the leaves and no sign of insects or eggs on the leaves.

Yes, it is very good due to the pandemic.

Mine too Chewbacca,only I put too much on and killed it in patches,never again. I’ve reseeded the worst bits ,kept it watered and it’s slowly coming back .

Yes, the garden does indeed look good, if rather overflowing. I'm trying to achieve a naturalistic cottage garden though for those who prefer the neat and tidy type I'm not sure they'd be impressed.
Apart from the roses and shrubs, etc I've got some stubborn weeds which will take a strong effort to dig up. This must have been farmland originally and there's a few clumps of something like wheat or barley with very thick sword-like leaves. I'm thinking a vicious weedkiller may see it off as I haven't the strength to dig it up - it's trying to strangle one of my roses! I've also allowed buttercups, clover and daisies to take over the lawn as I hate mowing it. As I say - natural.

Well I've certainly been splashing the cash at the garden centres. But, it's been a bad year for white/black fly. The ants are having a field day.
On a positive note: the chrysanthemum and French marigold haven't been attacked by snails.
For the first time ever I have 2 pelargonium that have no buds ?

I found a local nursery who would deliver.
It did cost more than I would normal pay but the pots are looking good.
The fuchsias from last year after overwintering in the garage are full of flowers.
It was a mild winter and I even have begonias from last year growing, I'm quite amazed by that it's never happened before.
Happy gardening everyone.