I love the summer. I could talk all day about why but I'll try and get it concise enough for a single blog post. In fact, I can be very to the point as to why I love summer so much. It has to be down to one thing - colour. Sound strange? Let me explain...



Think of the typical English winter, cold, dark, wet, grey and generally very miserable (remember I did say that I hated winter!) You can really see it as a disastrous cascading effect cause by the lack of sunshine. Because of this everything dies out that isn't evergreen. The lack of sunlight means that most things die out and because of this everything appears grey. Therefore, there is lack of colour. Blue, red, green, yellow, purple etc. In fact, just the lack of green makes me feel sad.



Then summer arrives and all is well. The sunshine is back and with it all the colour of the trees and plants. Most definitely time for all to make the most of the amazing colour available and what better way is there than going to the countryside and viewing spectacular open gardens.



Once such place to view such amazing colourful flowers and plants is Cascades Derbyshire Garden. Situated in the heart of Derbyshire, there are so many beautiful flowers on show. In particular there is an amazing collection of choice and unusual herbaceous perennials. Hardy perennials are those which can stay out in the garden all year round and are resistant to frost. The Latin term 'perennis' means 'many years' - 'herbaceous perennials', simply means they 'disappear' in winter. The plants die back to a rootstock where next year's shoots are protected, as the weather warms up in the spring the flowers start to grow back.



Other flowers that are on view include hellebores that are always blooming with an almost infinite colour range. Colours can range from pure white through to deepest purple/black, including all shades of pink, cream, primrose-yellow, smokey purple and pinkish red. Fantastic for the sun filled days!



One thing is for certain, a trip to Cascades Public Gardens will definitely fill your appetite for colour and the splendour of summer.