Lavender

Finn and I went to visit Auntie Ann during our week's holiday - sadly, Richard was at work so we didn't get to see him - and we spent a lovely day sitting in the garden, chatting, having lunch and trying to keep as cool as we possibly could on a sweltering hot day.

Ann and Richard's garden is filled with colour - Auntie Ann has an obsession with painting everything!  And, in fact, was responsible for me painting my own shed blue and white like a beach hut.  At the time, her shed was blue and white - and we actually discovered that I'd managed to pick exactly the same paint shades by very happy accident.  

Ann's now had a garden overhaul and everything is lavender - well, mostly lavender.  There are a few bits that are still blue, but I think (hope!) we've persuaded her to keep them as they are.

My front garden is a mess - it's a huge expanse of concrete and paving slabs and I hate it.   So, while sitting outside chatting with Ann, we've come up with a plan - a few weeks ago, when the girls were doing the London to Brighton walk, Amanda, Ann and I had to meet Shannon at the lavender fields opposite Oaks Park in Surrey and I mentioned then that I loved lavender.   So we devised a way to make my garden look and smell beautiful, attract bees and butterflies, and hopefully provide the raw ingredients for home made lavender bags around Christmas time!   It'll take some time to get things up and running, but, since coming home, I've sown two hundred and fifty lavender seeds, most of which have already sprouted!   I'm hoping to plant up lots of pots which can all be crammed into the front garden (with just a small path left inbetween the pots for me to get the bins in and out).  And, if any die, I can hook that pot out and replant with some more lavender.   I've bought two more packets of seeds to sow a couple of other varieties.   Even if it all comes to nothing, it will leave me happy and hopeful in the meantime.

I should also say that, on the day I visited, Auntie Ann had even coordinated her laundry with the garden!