Some like it hot.

Today it's 29c, a degree cooler than two days ago, some people like it hot, Simon is one of them, I however just want to go into hibernation until we have proper weather, at best all I can manage is to stake and tie up a few plants, work in the tunnel is impossible although both doors are open. Simon on the other hand is out mowing, strimming and weeding and loving every moment of it. There is of course an upside to this heat wave, slugs hate it and most plants love it, last year very few things set seed, this year everything is setting seed so I should be able to enlarge our plant collection without any cost, and still have plenty of seed to share with friends.

Last night was so hot that we slept with the patio door open in our room, the air was sweetly scented with roses , dianthus and honeysuckle, it's rare enough to be able to sleep in Ireland with the doors wide open, so I must not complain.

The roses are loving the heat, and cuttings taken in Spain are now blooming,

also our Spanish Oleander has blossom with more to come

and a self seeded plant, whose name I forget is also in bloom, this is a very pretty plant which grew all along our driveway in Spain, clearly it is enjoying the weather.
We are always on the look out for old fashioned roses and plants when we go out for a drive, there are so many derelict cottages around many of which used to have lovely gardens, in the last couple of weeks we have found three different types of old fashioned roses, all highly perfumed, one a dusky pink, one pure white Moss rose and

the latest one that we think might be 'Filipes Kiftsgate' this has the reputation of being the monster of all roses and can grow over forty feet in height, I have taken five cuttings from this rose, despite the warnings given on the internet about it, it is so pretty, with large clusters of small white single blossom. the perfume is divine, a mixture of honey and lemon blossom. I may live to regret this, but I hope they all take, we have plenty of places to grow them without them taking us over.

People around us are busy, footing the turf, which is very hard work, but this year they will have no trouble in getting it dry, I remember well the days when we had to put our turf in the range oven to dry it before we could use it, we no longer use turf, but now burn wood and I'm ashamed to say a small amount of coal, without the coal we would not get the range oven temperature hot enough to cook in, but it has to be better than using oil.
We now have regular customers for our eggs, all local people, so I no longer have to rack my brains on new ways to use eggs. We might even have surplus veg this year so possibly some for sale.                                      

Nice job, but I don't think it will float.