Whitsun bank holiday weekend is my traditional weekend for planting up my tubs and hanging baskets and this year is no exception. I always buy a few herbacious perennials each year to try to stock up the borders so they need less planting the following year. This Lupin is one of this year's perennials to fill a hole.

I'd nearly finished planting when it started to bucket down with rain and so I had to go inside. Too few minutes later (if it had rained for hours I'd have got away without watering the new planting in), the sun came out and this wonderful, heart-filling sight greeted me as I went back to work.

Bliss!