It seems more than bad luck to have suffered both a hurricane and a drought in a single year. Nevertheless careful and repeated watering in the nursery has meant that we have ridden out the drought with the plants putting on exceptional growth. As good a new crop of young camellias and rhododendrons as we can remember and certainly far better than in the other recent drought summers. There are losses in the garden and droughts hasten the demise of elderly trees and shrubs but it is not all doom and gloom as we all start to think about Autumn replanting plans. Nothing cheers up gardeners more than plotting new plants to try out for themselves.

After several drought years it becomes more and more imperative to give young trees and shrubs the best chance of survival by getting their roots established in the ground in October/November rather than in early spring.

This month, and after the heatwaves, there is exceptional flowering on many of the summer flowering trees which are more than capable of coping with heat and lack of moisture.