It's a miserable day...

Today the weather is foul, grey with a little more grey and light drizzle - sometimes heavy rain. As it's quite clear I will not be getting out this evening, here's something to cheer myself up:
Sea thrift is doing very well this year, I think I will have to move it next spring because it was planted too closely to the Geranium

Geranium taking over the sea thrift, it has lovely dark bronze leaves - great for Autumn/winter when everything else is dying away.

Honey Bee? on the masterwort, at its peak I could guarantee there would be at least 5 bees on it at any one time. Next year it will need dividing, at the moment it is covering my Agapanthus - I hadn't expected it to be *quite* so happy!

Campanula, also a bee magnet! Sitting on the decking and I can see the drone of the bees as they visit the wonderful little stars.

I think I might just be in love with the Cosmos… I sowed lots of seeds myself and must've had around 15 plants come up. All have been planted however they are still not flowering! I'm rather offended by their lack of flowers so far, I sowed the seeds a long time ago probably way back in February or March so they have had plenty of time to flower. They're now very large and bushy… but they're teasing me!
The actual Cosmos in flower are some I bought on the way home from Norfolk - 40p! At that price there was no way I could turn them down!!!

A hoverfly sits sunning itself and having a wash

The Aquilegia leaves have changed colour and are now providing lovely pink shades - no need for the flowers anymore!

Lavender bought a few weeks ago, I have yet to decide where to plant it… It was bought as a replacement to the lavender we ripped out. It had been pretty much killed by the snow earlier in the year and only had small sections showing signs of life. So we removed it and now the space left behind is home to the American Wisteria.

Strange looking things found dotted around the garden… I think they're Hoverfly Larvae that turning into adults… Certainly the second one appears to be a Hoverfly Larvae, but I am unsure about the first…

Verbena bonariensis… I have so many of these now… They're amazing, drifting in the breeze and add great height without taking over an area. I have planted 10 young plants this year, as well as having 2 more mature plants. So plenty for the Bees, Butterflies and Birds (Goldfinch eat the seeds) I also have another, wonderful Verbena with flowers on spires… I will post photos next time as I haven't yet processed the photos… They're beautiful too, I like to sit by the border and stare at them.

The Allium - Purple Sensation has gone to seed and left behind this wonderful structural explosion.

Lavertera is in flower, they were 'beauty mixed' and seem to be either this pink candy striped colour or white, both are lovely and a welcome addition to the garden this year.

Next year I will have to move the Veronica, the campanula has taken over this year and the poor Veronica is trapped in a corner…

And finally onto the wild poppies, although I generally shy away from warm colours… I just cannot, not have wild poppies and this year in particular has been a bumper year for them. Usually they never come up where I sow them but one will pop up somewhere random and only produce small, poor flowers. This year I have two very large plants with dozens of flowers. I hope I am as successful next year!