I am not really a gardener. I've never been employed as a gardener. I just have a big garden (in the US you'd call it a yard).
This year, I haven't done a darned thing except mow the lawn. Even then, I haven't mowed the lawn as much as I should.
I could lie about it and say that I'm conducting an experiment in how diverse the insect, bird and amphibian life becomes in a large untended garden, but the truth is that I can't seem to be bothered this year. I usually plant up pots and hanging baskets, grow lots of tomatoes and am careful about putting net across the strawberries. Not this year.
Despite neglect there are some pretty things to be found in the Whitelees garden this summer. Here they are:
The first apples that have stayed on the trees! Variety - Discovery 
The apple trees are just a few years old and until this year, the tiny apples have all fallen off in June. My other apple tree has some sort of problem that I'm going to have to investigate. There are black spots on the leaves and the fruit is misshapen.
Shasta Daisy - I've got a HUGE clump of these right in the front of the house. They're so sunny and positive, even in the rain.
Echinops or Globe Thistle - The bees love this spikey flower. I've got loads of this too.
Water Lily - Don't know what variety but it blooms away every year no matter what the water levels are in the pond.
Rose, variety Princess Elizabeth. This rose was here when we bought the place and makes the loveliest flowers for the house. I always spray the roses for black spot (even this year), but this particular rose doesn't really suffer as badly as other roses do.
Isn't nature great! The garden will continue to produce beautiful things even when I've been inattentive.
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