This one's for you David

PS I saw the bit on telly of Weatherly setting the Ft. W courthouse clock for daylightsavings. Bet you guys would love to tinker with this un!

Yes....But I hope it doesn't have a latter that goes straight up for the last 30' or so like the courthouse clock does in Ft.Worth......It is amazing........Nice picture of Big Ben.......

Hope of a new Virtual stroll is getting even more distant. So, in the meantime,,, here's a quiz (cause I need a memory jog) Where was this at? - I think in Wisley near the trial gardens.

The Lithodora difusa 'Star' looked so tough and evergreen that I was hoping to discover it would like it in my hot alkaline garden. But, no - the books say those are the 2 things it will not tolerate. Pout. Was hoping to have found a new lovely bluey for my garden.

Oh I hope you find time to get the London stroll done - that's my only hope of seeing England

I like Big Ben - it must really be impressive in person.

Oh the pressure

Yep Maggie, your memory is fine. Did you find that it used to be Lithospernum?

I didn't have to work that hard Terry - the pic had the name tag in it before I cropped it out!:-0 And my ref book seems to have been printed after the name change. Were you impressed until I owned up ;-) The branches of the plant were so twiggy, that I'd hoped it could make it here, but am now thinking that it sure might like your place and still be able to survive the supersizedslugs. Have you tried it?

I gave up trying to get any indoor brain work or heavy gardening done today, because there are gorillas on the roof and chimpanzies in the garden. Instead, I used the time to work up some more picies for you MK.

Here is my favorite pic from Kew gardens.
and inside the tropical conservatory, you can see the Victorian iron work and the jungle mist.

that makes it possible to grow the tropical monsters


Oh,,, the primates are replacing the roof. When the truck backed into my little rose standard that I grew from a twig - well , you can imagine my bellowing from this window.


It is after 7pm and they are still carvorting up there and making pounding noises to get me back for screaming at them this morning. But I think they got the message loud and clear, about being careful around the plants. One can only hope, at this late hour

Oh Fun! A trip to England tonight, Thanks Maggie.

The mist picture reminds me of the days when we would take the kids to the National Zoo in DC. They had a big domed building with the mist and tropical plants for tropical birds, but never blooms or architecture like those. This was way before my garden adiction began, but it was always one of my favorite exibits to walk through. Guess I had it in my blood even then, and just didn't know it.

Hope your baby made it through the invasion of the primates, Maggie.

The truck had ramed into it more than the photo shows. I had to bolster the single trunk up with buried rocks and am hoping for the best. The really sad thing is that it is one of a pair that flank the path into the herb beds. If one was to go, it would take several years to make another one near the size of its mate. I have to give the roofers credit tho - they cleaned up all the flying garbage without stepping into any of the beds. (Course, they had been fairly warned ;-)

I'm sure they would be happy to back it onto the other one so you have a matched pair again Maggie.

If the rose standard doesn't make it Maggie, I'll generously donate the standard Gingersnap to replace it.

:-0 I first planted 2 Peace rose standards there and ripped them out because they seemed too gaudy for the herb beds. Humm thanks for the offer but, screaming orange might not work either ;-)
Now where did I put those rose pics you sent... oh, rats, they are bmps - i'll have to wait till I'm on tother puter to switch um to jpgs to post um.

Did I not post poor much-maligned Gingersnap? Come on everyone, don't you think this shy beauty would look lovely in a sedate herb bed?

Only if there is St. John's Wort growing there too,,, for sedation !! ;-) !!

Carolyn and Maggie are showing off with all their summer rose blooms already. Do you grow Roses over there Terry? When would they bloom?

I only grow a few roses MK, mostly climbers/ramblers and a couple of single species types. Canary Bird is now in full flower, that's a single. It will be mid to end of May before any others start.

I adore single roses Terry - and that one is a dreamy color! What a beautiful cascade you've framed. My love for singles made me suffer all those years of grooming Mermaid so faithfully in spite of the difficultly. Oh I wish it hadn't been so vicious of thorn and grown so tall and wide. My single 'Dortmund' is blooming now. It is in a too shaded spot to grow too rampant at this point. I love the red petals with a white eye around the stamens. There is a wonderful pink single, 'Dainty Bess' with burgundy stamens, that doesn't seem to like my garden for very long tho.

Wish I could find a single repeat-blooming THORNLESS white one, one day. Anyone know of such a critter?

Just lovely!