Coming home from holiday to a garden in full bloom

I think every gardener gets that slight sense of dread when coming home from a holiday in summer. You imagine disaster, drought, things flopping everywhere or the best flowers opening and finishing while you are away.

Happily, I came back to a garden that had gone gloriously mad in the best possible way. There was so much in flower, the dahlias were beginning to do their thing and even the slightly messy parts just felt generous rather than chaotic.

Of course there were still the usual post-holiday realities, like hydrangeas drooping dramatically and lilies dusting everything with pollen, but those feel like manageable problems when the garden is giving you so much.

My first big bunch of dahlias from the season always feels like a moment, and coming home to that was a very lovely welcome back.