"Rod" wrote

"Bob Hobden" wrote
"Rod" wrote ...

Thanks for all the kind comments everyone. I'm just basking
nicely :-))
I paricularly wanted Bob to see I haven't killed his orchids.
The auriculas are a new passion along with a few alpines (the rockery
isn't in any of those photos) During my working life I had to be
content on the whole with growing stuff more tolerant of rough and
ready care given the scale of the garden I was working on.
Janet - if they get big enough to divide, you'll be welcome to some.
(Have you seen how many varieties there are in the specialist
catalogues? and I want them all ;~))
I'd forgotten the earlier photos of the workshop were there, that
replaces the rotten old damp cold workshop at our former cottage that
we had to leave for major repairs and for new tenants to struggle
with. We are now in a more modern (1960s semi) with this garden
designed to decline gracefully with us.
Judith, don't get too envious of that sideboard - my wife had to wait
40 years for that and she's still waiting for her dressing table.
This woodworking arose from running woodburning stoves and constantly
finding pieces of wood that were too nice to burn. Also at work I was
running a range of Victorian greenhouses by Messengers of
Loughboroughand couldn't bear to watch them falling down so I spent
several winters working on those and learning some joinery along the
way.

..........................

Yes the Pleione formosana flower was noticed. :-) Did you get many
flowers?

Strange thing with mine this year, the species ones ( formosana) have not
flowered as well as usual (although one has thrown up an off white sport)
and neither have a couple of the hybrids (Shantung and Eiger) but one
hybrid
( Tongariro) has gone berserk with most producing two flowers.


3 so far Bob - I'm not sure if the others will be flowers or just the
leaf. I'm just delighted to have got them through that frost. The
bulbs that survived were smooth purply ones as opposed to those with
rougher brown skins.

.....................................
The smooth purply pseudobulbs were ones that were buried under the mass of
plants and away from the light when I repotted so perhaps protected a
little. When they get too crowded some do get pushed down and it seems to
have been an advantage in this instance.

--
Regards
Bob Hobden
W.of London. UK