We all think of summer as the pinnacle of the growing season, the time when our gardens are at their most colourful. However, out in the countryside the delicate summer meadow and hedgerow flowers are often partially, if not completely, overshadowed, by all the lush greenery. Particularly so this year given all the rain we’ve had. Fortunately, a few striking summer flowers still manage to make their presence felt, despite the bramble and nettle thugs. One is the beautiful, multi-coloured lupin. Here in the Western Weald we are fortunate to have a vibrant, natural display of lupins every summer just outside Rogate. They are an explosion of colour in an otherwise green corridor of agricultural land along the Rother valley. The sensory experience is not just visual, their perfume is also alluring…for humans and bees alike.