See the Rose and Woodbine Twine

Under a threatening storm I have been up under the arbour painstakingly cutting out the morning glory which was hanging in a sodden swathe, and I discovered my rosa chinensis mutabilis had managed to infiltrate and clamber right to the top! It is not meant to be a climber, but it is certainly behaving like one - not like disappointing 'Fourth of July' on the other side, which I have velcroed tightly upwards to give it the idea, but which remains dumbly squat.

I was on tenterhooks for fear of accidentally slashing my precious rose stems in among the twiner - and I had to be careful pulling the lengths through too, to prevent snapping off young shoots. My hands and forearms are bloody from the thorns, but I won, and we can even see blossoms.

I want to go on another succulent hunt since Mary donated her galvanised pots to my collection, then I will hang them along the fence. I bought a tray of ornamental cabbage and planted them out, so I know this is my interest in gardening reasserting itself. A truck of compost any day now.

Mary is going to be my tenant again! We lose Dee and Ed this month which is sad but understandable, and Mary will just slip right in to her old flat. we are trying to work out where to put the chaenomeles, Meyer lemon and Cara Cara orange in their wine tubs.

Tulips are showing green, and the freesias have dozens of tiny buds.