This is truly the summer of the lawn daisy.

In fact,since early spring,this diminutive but beautiful flower has carpeted short grassy areas in great swathes,so much so that it is almost as if the ground in some places is covered in a light fall of snow.

The noun 'daisy' is a corruption of 'day's eye',with the yellow centre and white petals radiating out from it resembling a small sun.Only in sunny weather does it open,closing in rain and at night when few pollinating insects are around.Unfortunately the little flower is often mown to extinction on pristine lawns.

My favourite flower of all is the ox-eye daisy,its simple charm a delight to see on embankments and motorway verges,only glimpsed briefly as we drive along.

Alternative country names include marguerite,moon-daisy or dog-daisy,the latter hopefully not a derogatory title but associated with the 'dog-days' of summer.

Now is the season for orchids of many species creating either rapturous overtures or just the opposite depending upon people's taste.

Last summer bee orchids enjoyed a great season but this year fewer are appearing and this is often the way with orchids which can have bumper years followed by almost none at all the following summer.

This year is the turn of the pyramidal orchid to grace chalk downland and limestone grassland in huge numbers.