"One Rule For One .. "

 

Do you like the dog cuddly toy?

Here's the brilliant Christian and Prog Rock band that went New Wave : After The Fire with a very prophetic song from 1979:

I saw them many moons ago at Greenbelt Christian Music Festival in Odell in Bedfordshire.  I also saw U2 before they had become famous there too!

Another Successful Rooted Cutting.

 The wife bought a Coleus or ' Painted Nettle " plant from the German garden centre and beer providers the other week.  

So when she wasn't  looking I made a few cutting and placed them in glasses of water and hoped they would strike roots.  They did of course so I potted two of them up and we have now started a Coleus collection:

They are a bit mard and don't like frost but they can also be used for an annual in the garden borders or hanging baskets..?

I think I might be giving some house plants presents to people I know for Christmas!

What's The Story Nature's Morning Glory?

 I saw this pink and white Convolvolus or Bindweed growing through a Laurel hedge the other day.  I was knocked out with it's  beauty and trumpet shaped flowers.

I remember white coloured Bindweed flowers when I lived in Blighty.  But I can't remember seeing pink and white ones.

Apparently they can be toxic to livestock if they graze them.

Incredibly they are related to the cultivated garden flower Ipomea or Morning Glory.

Perhaps the Gallagher brothers were inspired by this flower when they visited their ancestral home in Ireland.  The Bindweed flowers certainly inspired me.  Drop dead gorgeous wild flowers!

Carbooting Again.

Yesterday was 25 degrees and we went to two carboot sales.  One in county Cork and one in county Kerry.  There was a myriad of items for sale.  Even the kitchen sink.  I jest not!😊

Here's some of the things we spotted and bought:

A long nosed shovel or "Grafter" they call them in England. They're  great for digging narrow trenches, planting shrubs or even digging an old shrub out. I bought a sledgehammer too.

I even managed to capture my shadow.  I am definitely not a ghost.

A brand new hand knitted Aran jumper for yours truly.

Two hardwood elephants to go with the every growing collection.

Do you want to guess what we paid for each item? Go on don't be shy.  🤔

Have you been to any carboot sales lately? What did you buy or sell?

Daisy Time.

 My daisies decided to put on their annual show this week.   Daisies are said to be the most popular plant species in the world.  They are everywhere apart from Antartica.

Shasta daisies originate in north America and were named after the white snow capped Shasta mountains in California.  They were introduced to the rest of the world in 1901.

I have grown them from cuttings in the polytunnel and by division.  I have lots of them growing in my  herbaceous perennials borders. 

Neighbours call and ask me if I have any of "them daisies?" and I always find them some.

You can pick them for cut flowers or even put them in your hair.

Here's that Gypsy Goth band who I saw at Glastonbury festival in 1989 with an appropriate song:

I've seen Julianne and the rest of All About Eve twice.  What a band and what a lady.  She's a Colleen from Coventry.

The Butterfly Returns.

 Buddleia originated in China.  They are also called the butterfly bush.  If you want to attract butterflies to your garden, back yard or allotment plant a Buddleia.  Sedums attract them to.

The Buddleia was used to reinforce  newly constructed railway embankments with their roots.  I noticed a lot of them growing wild near Temple Mead train station in Bristol when I visited Dorset in 2018.  Perhaps their ancestors came from bomb sites in the second world war?  

I make cuttings from mine every year and you can also let the flowers go to seed and sow them next Spring.  I think they like to spend time frozen in the fridge to make them jolt into life and germinate.

Here's one I planted twenty years ago:

Can you see the butterfly?

Cat Pub And An Oil Tanker.

Domino is very thirsty at the moment.  He's even drinking from the dogs paddling pool.  It's  a good idea to make pet pubs in this unbelievable sizzling hot weather.  

An oil tanker sailing with a full load of oil past my Hypericum shrub in the garden.  I grew that shrub from one of my cuttings.
 

My blog title would be a good name for a Prog Rock band.