Rain in Arcadia

I know I shouldn't grumble but I'm going to anyway. Many parts of the country are suffering severe flooding and thousands of people are sheltering in community centres or in homes with no electricity; I feel very sorry for them and I'm glad that we are not in their predicament. But! We have had too much rain. In fact, we've scarcely had a dry day since the beginning of May. Add to that gusty winds and very low temperatures and you can see that all has not been idyllic in Arcadia.

We had a brief sunny spell this afternoon, so I went to see how the garden is coping with all the rain. On the whole, the plants are loving it and are growing in a frenzied fashion; they don't look very pretty but thay are obviously having a great time compared with last year's drought conditions. The herbs in my once lovely potager have taken on a Triffid-like appearance and the centre-piece, the MM's beloved anchor, has almost disappeared.

I wouldn't dare to cut any of these herbs in case they decide to eat me instead. The MM's anchor is just visible.

The single casualty is a small tree (a hornbeam, I think but I could well be wrong) which grows on a small bank next to the rockery. I imagine the water has been cascading down the rocks onto the roots of the tree and washed away the soil. I have cut off the lower branches to reduce the weight and pushed the tree upright against the garage wall with some makeshift stakes. As you can see, it doesn't look pretty but I'm feeling quite proud of my effort and ingenuity. I just hope it holds until the MM gets back from Greece. I'm not very practical, so if anyone can advise me on a better way of securing it I would be grateful. Also, if anyone can identify the little tree, please tell me, especially if it is something that is going to grow to 30 feet and push the garage down!