"Sacha" wrote in message
...
On 12/10/06 09:10, in article , "Charlie
Pridham" wrote:


"Sacha" wrote in message
...
snip

Did you have a lovely holiday and did you go to the Blandy garden this
time?
--

Yes we had a lovely time, it had rain between your visit and ours so
forest
fires were under control, but our week was sunny throughout.

Yes, we had only one day of rain but unfortunately, it was the day we 'did
the tour', so the views and panoramas were a closed book to us!

we
walked back toward Funchal in the afternoon along the levada that runs
just
above the garden. But the star for me was the high levada we came
through a
tunnel from sunshine, agapanthus and hydrangea and were in what almost
seemed a wild garden, just stuffed with the Native madeiran plants,
dripping
ferns and cool atmosphere, sadly we chickened out after the next tunnels
as
the path became very narrow at less than 6" and the drops were a lot
worse
than 600 feet!

You hearty people! I just looked at a couple of the higher levada paths
and
felt faint. ;-) It was amazing how much was still flowering right up
high,
compared to what had given up down in Funchal. Glad you got to Blandy
again, though I can't imagine you wouldn't have!
The picture of the butterflies is what they looked like with their wings
closed

Sad there's no name for it. There's a book on Madeiran wildlife and I
think
I'll send for it.
--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
http://www.discoverdartmoor.co.uk/

One of their few large native bits of wildlife is the blue pigeon which we
have now seen twice to the irritation of one of the hotel managers who
though both a local and a walker has never seen one! there are apparently
only a few left. Then there are their eagles which look suspiciously like
buzzards to me but I have always been too polite to say so!
If its a small light weight book I would be interested what you think of it.

--
Charlie, gardening in Cornwall.
http://www.roselandhouse.co.uk
Holders of National Plant Collections of Clematis viticella (cvs) and
Lapageria rosea