Flowers and Tennis

Yesterday I thought I'd spend some time watching Wimbledon on television ... Sharapova v Peng which I thought was a nice lead up to the next Murrey match ... but it was too noisy. A couple of years ago players at Wimbledon were banned from grunting and squealing when they strike a ball. Now it seems the rule has been relaxed. I felt like complaining to the Wimbledon authorities that Sharapova's grunts were so irritating I couldn't watch any longer.

Outside the weather was amazing, sunshine, a cloudless blue sky and exceptionally high temperatures. It made more sense to enjoy it and not bother with the tennis. Accordingly, I went out to inspect my rough patch.

The first thing I spotted was this single antirrhinum, obviously sewn from bird seed because we've never, ever had snapdragons in the garden before.

And this, a new arrival which I can't find in my book of wildflowers.

Then there's this, seen among the now seeding foxgloves. The tall yellow flower is also missing from the wildflower book. If anyone can identify it I'd be really grateful. I've cut back the foxgloves so that they'll have a second flowering later in the year. This project gives me a lot of pleasure, I love seeing the extra flowers appearing from nowhere.

But the best of today's finds was my first rose of summer, though I hasten to add that it was not found in the wild patch. I know I should have left it on the bush but I did so want to a bit of colour on my kitchen windowsill.