Botanic excitement

I’ve strimmed around this plant many times in spring. Hidden beneath a small downy oak I’ve often wondered what it was. I took time today to look. A lizard orchid, relatively rare apparently. Supposed to smell like a male goat, one of its Italian names is ‘barbone di becco’ which, I think, translates as ‘tramp’s mouth’. I returned to the plant but couldn’t smell much: not like a nearby dogwood in bloom that smells like death.

Mixed May weather again. The soil now lovely and warm and moist. I should plant every seed I have. Asparagus and spinach for lunch. Northern Italy being hit by torrential rain. We are just south of it.