Glad someone asked this question. . . I was starting to wonder if the thread I'd started about the dangers of gardening had put anyone off! Obviously not and of course you're all being careful, natch.

Here in France, we've been having a rather strange summer: hotter than hell in May (+ 30°C) and then cold enough (6°C in the evening) to make a fire in the chimney in mid-July! We are presently back to hot and thundery. All this climatic nonsense hasn't kept the garden from doing well. We started harvesting some of our potatoes last week, the green beans and pinto beans have done well beyond all expectation and the salads and tomatoes are splendid.

As far as flowers go, all my '97 iris germanica hybrids bloomed magnificently (three of them were good enough to register, I thought and will have names later on this year) and some of the '98 ones offered flowers as well. I will be planting the '99 bunch in two weeks. . . are any of the rest of you iris fans? I did put in lots of plants late this year, but they've seen fit to come along nicely anyway. The rosebushes have already offered us a few flowers and the dahlias might get tall enough to bloom after all.

Cheers,

Aux