"Consider the lilies of the field and how they grow" Matthew 6:28

Loving these balmy late summer days with breakfast on the terrace whilst watching the Morning Glories unfurling in the early sunshine.

However, for the past few weeks it has been lily time in the garden 

  Lilium Martagon 'album'

Lilium Martagon

Lilium regale 

White lilies symbolise purity - a flower that has been admired and painted across the centuries

Sandro Botticelli, The Cestello Annunciation 
 
Dante Gabriel Rossetti - The Annunciation 

Trumpet lily - copper king

 Lilium Leichtlinii

Lilium Davidii

Not true lilies but members of genus Zantedeschia - happily both Calla and Arum lilies live in our garden without the need to lift them for the winter - they were firm favourites of both....

.......Georgia O'Keeffe 

and Diego Revera.  This painting is called 'Nude with Calla Lilies', however, the nude is very recognisable as artist Frida Khalo, Diego's wife

Our lilies have delighted us over the last couple of months, but sadly they are now mostly finished.

Visitors to the Garden

Are humble Foxgloves on the rise? This year so many have planted themselves in our pots and borders wearing shades of pink, and white.

As dusk falls white Foxgloves seem to glow

Foxglove digitalis purpurea is lovely but can be toxic to some people so care should be taken. It has a whole host of common names reflecting an association with fairies - Fairy Caps, Fairy Gloves, Fairy Thimbles, Fairybells, and Fairy Herb.

Foxglove Fairy - Cicely Mary Barker
Digitalin, a cardiac glycoside that is extracted from Foxgloves is used to help steady rapid heartbeats and arrhythmias 

This one has even made itself at home inside a pot of my lilies.  
Some visitors, however, we are not so pleased to see.

I know this baby squirrel is very cute but he is trying to take the birds' nuts and seeds

but hasn't yet figured out how to get them

foiled at the moment

 but he'll be back

June is a month of pretty colours in the garden enjoy it whilst it lasts