So the promised heat-wave arrives and it is hot. Twenty five degrees Celsius this morning when I took the header photo. Thirty two degrees in the shade this afternoon as I write this.
We inhabit an urban heat island (UHI) of course, living as we do amid brick, concrete, asphalt and repurposed medieval stone, all the sun-storing component parts of old and ancient properties that sprawl, hugger mugger, down a steep, south facing hill. But there is a gentle breeze, which is something. I never thought I’d think fondly of those past weeks and months of blustery winds.
Now the next door cherry plum tree is no more, there’s little to no natural shade in our garden. But we do have a wing, strung outside the kitchen doors. It’s a good spot for dining out.
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Above the wing, the red kite glides by, apparently seen off by the local jackdaws who live in the big ash tree further up the hill. The kite doesn’t seem too bothered, very much above such petty annoyances, but it’s hard to photograph, it moves so swiftly.
Up in that perfect blue swifts and house martins zip by. No chance of catching a shot of them. The butterflies flit away too, Hedge Browns living up to their name, patrolling the back hedge at speed. In the front garden, which is especially hot (it faces east on a north-south axis) Painted Ladies dash away as soon as they spot me. But then finally, when I stand very still, one stops for a long sip of Moonshine. Achillea, that is. They are very like tortoiseshells, but paler colouring, although this one is looking darker in the full-on sun.
![painted lady_thumb[6]](https://tishfarrell.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/painted-lady_thumb6.jpg "painted lady_thumb[6]")
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Meanwhile, down beside the greenhouse, where the ice white mallow is blooming, the honey bees and bumbles are bathing themselves in mallow pollen, a full-body experience by the look of things. I have a sense of wanting to join in.
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Above them, the self-seeded sunflower heads for the sky, the first flower beginning to open just this morning.
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At 9 a.m. I was out emptying the last of the loamy stuff from my compost bin, spreading it around the base of plants that had missed out on earlier mulching attempts. And ‘attempts’ is the key word here. I have a garden assistant who is keen to make improvements on my efforts. It is currently a battle of wills: he moves it one way; I move it back.
It’s too hot for this game, I tell him. But he doesn’t listen. The search for bugs, grubs and worms must go on…
At least these days the robin only gives me the eye, and soon flies off if I’m not doing something actively worm-rendering. Back in spring when there were nestlings to feed, it would arrive at my feet and shout if I wasn’t turning over the soil fast enough. Sometimes I wonder whose garden this is…
Copyright 2026 Tish Farrell
I love that you have a companion to help with your garden ….Yes its supper hot over here…aka 100 degrees or close
Hope you are keeping well, Beverly. 100 degrees is a bit much.
Thank you.. Not much getting done outside and ..lol..not too very much inside..Fall is coming.
Beautiful garden and cute companion.
Thank you so much for sharing all those lovely images! pp
Thank you for popping in, Pam.
Thanks for the update on your garden Tish. I love the sunflower. It has determination! I translated your 25C to Fahrenheit and got 77F. We are enjoying cool summer days going up to 88F. Towards the end of the week, they say we will be in triple digits! Enjoy your beautiful weather and garden.
88F is cool? Ha! Actually we were in NYC one May when it hit 100F. We spent almost a week in Central Park drinking iced coffee or in the Met where there was air con. We Brits aren’t used to temps above the 70s.
This is why I love California–low, very low, humidity. NYC is high humidity in Spring and Summer. I lived in the Bronx and remember the sweltering summers. I feel for the people on the east coast right now. They are getting record heat. Add the humidity and WOW. On your next visit, come to California!
Thanks for the good advice, Anne. Low humidity – it sounds very enticing.
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Of course the garden belongs to the birds. You are the loyal servant, turning up worms and other good things. But you wouldn’t have it any other way …
I think you’ve summed it up, Margaret, 🙂
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Thanks for showing us your delightful garden plot, Tish – you have quite a few whites to create a sense of shade, aside from that wing over the inviting patio corner
Yes, the whites/pales – I started off with that notion at the bottom of the garden, along the whole border from the mallow. The creamy perennial foxgloves have grown well there and, until the heat, were flowering wonderfully. I have geranium phaeum album and white hesperis in that spot too (long over), but of course being near the trees, it’s a dry spot that’s hard to manage at the moment.
European robins are so Potteresque! Our American robins seem so clunky next to them. They are just as cheeky though!
I think robins are their own entity – they just adopt bird formats 🙂
An astute observation🪺
I think it’s quite clear that your garden belongs first and foremost to the birds, bees and butterflies, and it’s lovely to see them all enjoying it 😀 That’s a great shot of the Painted Lady, and also the bees in the mallow flowers, covered in pollen! That wing looks a great idea. We have shade near the house (the garden is north facing) but it my be nice to have one in the opposite corner as that’s where we like to sit (but can’t stand to do so in this heat).
It’s been too hot to sit under it today, which is a bit odd as it’s only half a degree hotter than yesterday. Perhaps we had more breeze. Anyway the wildlife hosts have had the garden to themselves today 🙂
Your garden is lovely! And it belongs to the birds.
It does!
That sure is warm – hope the bird friends have lots of water around. 😊
We’ve been putting water out, but not sure if they’ve found it.