Deception

They say, “Confession is good for the soul”, so in an attempt to salve my conscience I will admit that I wasn’t being strictly truthful yesterday.  You may have got the wrong impression as to the success of my day as a whole and more specifically Hero’s and my trip to Holbrook Garden near Tiverton in mid Devon.   In truth it was a wonderful day.  If I had a tick list for what constitutes a good day my pencil would be blunt.  As it has been a week of lists I will continue in this tradition.  So let us get the clipboard out: Good company, tick, great weather, tick, homemade apple and walnut cake, tick, garden of delights, tick, laughter, tick tick, bread and cheese, tick, a nursery full of treasures, tick, tick, bloomin’, tick, and not forgetting an adorable puppy, ahhh tick.   Before you jump on your moped you must realise that cake and cheese are for the chosen few and you will have to supply your own laughter, good company and great weather.  Do not worry about these omissions, get your crash helmet on, the garden is reason enough to visit.  Scrub that, you better get the van out of the garage, you will be not be able to resist temptation at their nursery Sampford Shrubs.  I have visited Holbrook several times before, but each and every time it is a fresh garden that I visit.  Ever evolving, casual but adventurous, full of the ordinary and the extraordinary, enveloping and embracing.  And you may, if you are very, very lucky, get to stroke a puppy, but no promises as she is very fussy about who she makes friends with!

This is pterostyrax, I can’t remember the specific (I was told but foolishly didn’t write it down) but most likely it is hispidus.   The common name is the fragrant epaulette tree, referring to its fringed flowers.  Quite beautiful.