"Phil L" wrote in message
k...
up here in sunny St Helens (Lancs), we haven't had any rain for months -
in fact, I can't remember last time it rained, at least not enough to
actually wet anything.
The result being that the new spring growth seems to be suffering - even
the grass on my lawn is burnt away and yellow, while the soil below is
hard and cracked and I'd lost two shrubs before I realised, one isn't so
important because I've got other specimens of this, but I don't know what
it's called, and the other I'd rather have kept - it's got slender green
leaves and puts on a show about this time of year with firy red growing
tips, it also has bunches of whitish seeds hanging down - whatever it's
called, it appears to have given up the ghost.

While me cakehole's open, what's thos blue small flowers called? - someone
mentioned them as an alternative to lobelia for borders/baskets etc?

TIA

up here in North Liverpool it looks like rain is soon. According to the
weather forecast there is an 80% of rain tomorrow.

The plant with the red tips - is it a pieris?

Has St Helens moved? When I was based on Ruskin Drive recently St Helens
was in Merseyside.