The first posy from my garden

This is the first bunch of summer flowers of the season ... sweet peas, lavender (not yet in flower, picked for the scent), cerinthe major purpurescens and - purple sprouting broccoli! They're on my desk now, and the smell is overwhelming ... cheering ... better than anything you can buy.

Cerinthe grows like a weed in my garden, and is a lovely plant, with its extraordinary drooping navy blue flowers and bluey-green leaves. The seed is horribly expensive, and I really don't understand why, because it's so easy to collect - in a couple of days, there will be three or four (at least) huge brown seeds on my desk, lying beside the mug.

The mug, incidentally, the beautiful mug was made by my sister-in-law Kate Scott, the ceramicist - just look at the delicacy of the beautiful handle, as well as the lovely J. She exhibits in London sometimes, and her work was recently highlighted in Country Living.