After two weeks of hot sun it finally became overcast so I took the opportunity to split and move all the different primulas that are around the place - the drumsticks that had been raised from seeds, the polyanthus that had come from miniplugs last year and had been planted into a nursery bed for a year. There has been a mixture of the plants as time was of the essence (I ended up out side finishing the planting at 11:15 at night with the last few glimmers of day light disappearing and the sodium street lights doing weird things to my vision - it seems to make things vibrate in the peripheral visions) but I did finish it all in the end so we are hoping for some mega dispalys next year or the year after. Anyhow it looks like the bunny mowers don't like the taste of primulas as they are all still there after a few days. Phew! It doesn't look like much - maybe two metres by 1 1/2 meters (the first bed) but it was much more work than I anticipated. The other bed with the drumstick primulas on the right below is a round 2 metres by 1/2 meter. For both of these the main work was clearing the buttercups - i.e hands and knees digging out every little rooted creeper - and I bet I missed dozens. However what I do find is that it is very difficult to get motivated to weed any area which hasn't got flowers planted and so the buttercups seem to run rampant there - while it is great to get down and weed a flower bed. The flowers act as a real motivator especially when it has been so much work to raise them and to get them planted out in the first placce. That is part of the problem at the back, over the fence - get motivated to weed areas which you know will simply be covered in weeds again and there is no reason to keep them clear. (but more about that at a different time.) 
The rosebud primulas that had arrived this year and which Jiurie had potted up a couple of months ago have gone into a nursery bed for a year to increase their number. The bunny mowers got into the nursery beds the day after I planted everything up and decapitated the violets (bottom right) and the heleniums (top right) had a good nibble at the Aquilegia (even though the don't like them - top left) totaly ignored the Indian mustard - a brassica - right - too hot and peppery for them I thnk - and ignored the primulas - hip, hip hooray! 
