Away Days – Page 3 – Off The Edge Gardening

Best

A frosty morn; a road trip with Hero, warmed by winter mixture; a coffee rendevous with Torrington Tina, Rusty Duck and Mrs Bun; a lesiurely wander around sugar sifted gardens, enjoying the familiar and admiring the new; chickens and fir cones and deer and ferns; icy rills and the ghosts of water lilies; soup, cheddarContinue reading “Best”

Kindness

Social media tells me it is World Kindness day. Sounds like a good thing. Although I doubt the people who should be taking note are paying attention. Still we must do what we can. Today we had a day trip to the big city, well a city anyway. We wore our best smocks held neatlyContinue reading “Kindness”

Lichen

Lichen and granite, mustard yellow and gunmetal grey, happily cohabiting on a grievously exposed sea wall. A few hours later, in much different circumstances, a friend’s easy chair and contrasting footstool echoed this perfect marriage. Life imitating life.

Walking

Due to the fact that my Mean Machine is still at the menders, I have had to walk to work for the last couple of days. Luckily these jobs have been relatively local and the sun was shining or I might not have been quite so nonchalent. This morning, on my trek to work, IContinue reading “Walking”

Precis

Ginger lilies, hummingbird hawk moth, Canna ‘Panache’, four lovely cats, chocolate biscuits, ginger rosemary cuttings, Helianthus salicifolius, brugmansia, horti-chat, sunshine, Colocasia ‘Black Magic’, road trip, Passiflora exoniensis, fine folk, school day, Ensete montbeliardii, plant aquisitions, dragonfly, Bidens ‘Hannay’s Lemon Drop’ and friends, fabulous visit – Devon Subtropical Garden.

Survived

We have just returned from the Edinburgh Fringe. We survived. Not the festival, I had every faith we would return tired but relatively unscathed. It was everything I thought it would be and more – crazy crowded, cosmopolitan, chaotic and great fun. We had a wonderful few days with some of my family and didContinue reading “Survived”

More Marwood

Another favourite from yesterday’s visit to Marwood Hill Gardens is this bizarrely beautiful Kalanchoe beharensis, or the Elephant’s ear kalanchoe. How can you possibly go wrong with a plant/pachyderm hybrid?

Friendship

You can strike up friendships in the strangest of places. Well I can anyway. A packed polytunnel at the both marvellous and cruelly irresistible Sampford Shrubs, was one such place. The person in question, who I befriended, or perhaps befriended me, was a visitor from Cornwall. I was on my way to Somerset. On reflectionContinue reading “Friendship”

Je Regrette Tout

I should have. I didn’t. Je regrette tout.

Inappropriate

Yesterday I attended, along with Hero and OH, the local Plant Heritage lecture day and lunch at Marwood Hill Gardens. I listened intently, notebook in hand, to talks on scented shrubs and later about botanising in Madagascar. I even remembered to pack my specs so I could actually see the slide show. I wandered aroundContinue reading “Inappropriate”