Janet Baraclough..7/4/04 6:21
k


When I went to the dustbin this morning I spotted some tiny green
leaves coming through the soil...my Scottish flame-creeper, tropaeolum
speciosum has come back to life! A closer inspection showed three more
infant plants within a few feet, signs that its roots are settled and
creeping about underground.

That's the first sign of life from it since I moved a root to this
garden 18 months ago; nothing at all showed above ground last year.
Thought I'd lost the temperamental creature so I'm delighted :-)


And I'm delighted for you! It's a lovely thing. We have it growing through
some yew hedging and for those who actually look around them, rather than at
the ground * it's a source of constant wonderment and surprise.
* is because when our mimosa was flowering its socks off - best I or Ray
have ever seen it, and could be seen from 4 or 500 yards away up the lane
etc. - several visitors to the garden didn't see it unless we pointed it
out. Then they'd look up and be astonished - the Paulownia gets just the
same treatment, though it's not as spectacular. Look up, LOOK UP should
be a gardening motto! Not everything flowers just above ground level. ;-)

Janet, can you grow, do you have, would you like, a Holboellia? Ours is
going mad in the greenhouse just now and the scent is enough to make one
swoon; no doubt the outdoor one will do the same later. This is H.
coriacea which Ray says he thinks is more 'reliable'. Email me if you'd
like one as a house-warming present.

--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
(remove the weeds to email me)