A stake in time...

This time last year I looked at the flopped, wind-and-rain-beaten chaos of stems at the awkward-to-get-to back of a border and told myself, "Next year I'll definitely get my staking done in time and it will all look lovely". Fat chance. So this morning before breakfast, I was once again stumbling around and swearing as I hoiked up lolling masses of Aster 'Little Carlow' and Euphorbia sikkimensis that had fallen domino-style across one another, each now-nearly-horizontal stem having bent upwards towards the light at a jaunty angle. As ever, my post-flop, too-little-too-late efforts couldn't snatch victory from the jaws of defeat and the forcible coralling of twisted stems using an arsenal of stakes, supports and endless metres of garden twine are horribly obvious. I know that come September the Aster will still be smothered in a haze of mauve flowers and alive with butterflies and other insects, and that it's really only my pride that's injured – but next year I'll definitely get my staking done in time and it will all look lovely.