Don't you just love June

 The dog roses are out in all their spectacular glory making arabesques across the skyline. Funny that so called common plants are known as dog this and dog that. They are full of simple elegance whatever they are called..a rose by any name would smell as sweet and all that!

Gentle, soft pinks so hard to capture with a paint brush.

Fading almost to white. I could see these being draped around the curls of country brides in days gone by. So pretty and delicate.

                           And here a few dog daisies mixing with fragrant chamomile.

A large droopy daisy with tiny speedwell growing at her feet.

I'm not a religious person but I can't help but think of how as a little girl we sang our hearts out to

1. 
Daisies are our silver, 
Buttercups our gold: 
This is all the treasure 
We can have or hold. 

2. 
Raindrops are our diamonds 
And the morning dew; 
While for shining sapphires 
We've the speedwell blue. 

3. 
These shall be our emeralds 
Leaves so new and green; 
Roses make the reddest 
Rubies ever seen. 

Such beautiful evocative words by

by "Jan Struther",
pseudonym of Joyce Maxtone Graham, 1901-1953,
author of Mrs Miniver.

!!

And at last young Jack turned up just before the thistles went to seed..yippee Last year he came just after..that wasn't so good.

The grass and various shall we say weeds..were chest high and even the Jack Russells no longer wanted to walk through for fear of the newly grown thistles making too many holes in their feet.

So happy to see it looking tidier..next time he comes in July I'll have cleared away the remains of the brambles to give him a better run at the long grass over to the left. The black thorn are still there along the right flank..I only managed to cut down about a third of them..hey ho..