My new house is still taking up much of my time and energy. I've been doing the garden. Or rather, I've had a man in to make a wood store for logs, and put up a shed for all my garden paraphernalia. My task was merely to paint both.

So, on roasting days, when others have been sunbathing - getting browner - I've been painting sheds Rich Oak. The primary task: to get more boxes unpacked, and get my home put in order. I can't concentrate on arty stuff until I'm out of this guddle!

And it's been so terrifically hot - even this far north - but luckily my garden benefits from the shade of my neighbour's overhanging trees.

I thought the one plumped up with white blossom was a Lilac but it is, in fact, Common Privet. This dense green shrub is usually clipped into a neat hedge. But here it has been left to grow into a sprawling tree some 18' tall, and it's loaded with white scented flowers. These flowers drop - casually and regularly - onto my paved courtyard. They look like grains of rice. So, my patio resembles an expansive risotto, or one of those huge whole-town paellas they cook with shovels in Valencia!

I am regularly sweeping the spent blossom away but even in this unrelenting heat, it is no effort. Because the reward for having this gigantic Rice Tree is its capacity to attract butterflies!

A week ago, I was excited to see about 4 Small Tortoiseshell butterflies sucking nectar. They were accompanied by several bees on a flying visit.

But now the tree is like a pub offering FREE BEER!

Because the tree is positively humming with squillions of bees - all shapes and sizes - from thumb-size bumble bees to honey bees to hovering hoverflies and tiny fruit flies.

And I spotted 14 Small Tortoiseshell butterflies fluttering orange/brown against the green & white. So many butterflies! I even saw some bluetits nibbling flowers. I kid you not! Maybe they were drunk? They were certainly high!

But yesterday I was even more amazed to spot a larger visitor - a Peacock butterfly. Such a pretty butterfly! Not very common nowadays, but a real stunner!

When they close their wings, tip to tip, they look like a single leaf - brown and jaggy. But when their wings open, their eyes are revealed.

So, butterfly-lovers, forget your Buddleia, Calendula & Cosmos, instead plant a Ligustrum Vulgare (Common Privet). Then let it grow rampant in a sunny spot, and in a few years you'll have more butterflies and bees than you can shake a shovel at!