Good to see you Mondrian. I'm sad to say the garden is so parched and I have lost a Pieris through the heat although I had kept it well-watered.( It was very old though)
17d a Greek character takes cakes up to bed (7)
the definition is: bed or layer so the answer was Stratum. The "cakes" were "tarts" (reversed)
I hope your garden is doing better than mine and that you are keeping well. jg