I have been envious of all the bright pink elephant’s ears that I have seen this season. While mine remain boring  & green.Now these may not be the most elegant of flowers, nor one of my favourite plants, but they are practical. In a narrow, shady border alongside the fence separating our garden & our neighbours they are ideal. This is an area that’s especially difficult to access – for me that is. Bindweed has no trouble at all – here it runs riot, winding its way under the fence or twining itself through the wooden slates. So the tough leathery leaves of bergenia best known as elephant’s ears makes an ideal choice. I have three plants in a row – my line of defence against the enemy weeds. The plants have survived where others were defeated in past attempts to create ground cover, but so far they have remained flowerless.

Today I spotted the first flower. A spiral of pink flowers, like a child’s ice lolly. It reminded me that I need to have a weeding session in the garden. This may sound simple, but in my compact garden I have to squeeze between a rose & large, vicious pyracantha shrub to crawl behind the plants & slowly work my way between shrub & fence panels at ground level. Looking closely at this patch of garden the time is ripe to achieve  this as the new fresh leaves of bindweed are just visible.