On 13/3/06 10:38, in article
, "Des Higgins"
wrote:


"Sacha" wrote in message
id...
On 13/3/06 10:15, in article
, "Des Higgins"
wrote:
snip
This is on;ly part of an answer but...
wikkipedia never ceases to amaze me .... here is the entry for it:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Valerian

It says it tolerates lime well and hence can grow in lime mortar.
Maybe your mortar is more recent? Lime mortar was the standard mortar in
times past.
In other words, I have no idea :-)

I don't know what mortar was used but the stone was taken from a quarry just
a few fields up and now disused and the house was built in 1851. The
architect was the man who designed Truro and Brisbane cathedrals, so he
obviously made a bit of a 'thing' out of ecclesiastical buildings, as this
used to be the vicarage! I have looked him up on Google but found out
little about him or his preferred building methods etc. However, I imagine
that lime mortar would have been used in the mid 1800s? The walls don't
have a lot of things growing in them, just a few ferns and Leycesteria which
looks particularly strange and gangly!
--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
)