Another white one

The dahlias I've been growing from seed for the Blooms for Bees survey are doing much better than I could possibly have hoped for. The only trouble is that now they are beginning to flower almost all of them are white. The point of the survey was to determine which of 3 flower colours (white, red and purple) was most popular with visiting bumblebees but it's looking as though I have about 20 white ones only 2 red and no purple at all. I need 3 of each to be able to take part :(   I thought I'd been really careful to keep each of the colours separate and clearly labelled but the evidence is suggesting otherwise. It's a shame as I'm never normally as successful as I have been this year at growing from seed - pricking out, potting up and potting on at just the right moment to keep the plants happy. That and the almost total lack of slug damage is unprecedented (although I should probably thank my shoe-dwelling toad friend for her assistance in dealing with the mollusc population.)

A morning at Mrs S yanking out at least a billion Cotoneaster seedlings - although I had been expecting to be weeding an expanse of stone cobbles. The mercury was climbing alarmingly when I arrived and although I wasn't looking forward to it I was resigned to a couple of sweltering hours in the full sun sorting the cobbles out. Mrs S is a kind soul though and doesn't like to think of me working in any sort of non-optimal weather. I didn't say anything but suddenly the Cotoneaster problem became top priority for her. I'm sure it wasn't a coincidence that it was about the only part of the garden which is always in full shade. It's sometimes hard to persuade her that I really don't mind a bit of rain or that it's really OK for me to be kneeling on cold paving but today I was really grateful for her motherly concern.