In article ,
Judith in France wrote:

Can I tempt you to try a sorbet? =A0Mango; with a small glass of very
dry white wine?

Some chilli in the mango improves it.

Does it? How much, a pinch???

Yes. Just enough so that it has a hint of heat, no more.

I can't remember which restaurant served it to us, but it was
obviously a good idea when we tried it.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

Sacha writes

As some of you will know, we manage most of our large garden as a wildflower
meadow/wildlife friendly environment, which means among other things that we
only cut the grass twice a year, and we spread some hay bales from a
wildflower-rich meadow in autumn. Imagine our delight then to find some
pyramid orchids growing there for the first time! No bad for land which was
the spoil tip from a brick yard when we bought it!
Just thought I would share our pleasure.

You must be absolutely delighted!

Some orchids do well on basically ex-industrial land. The last pyramidal
orchid I saw was on top of a Hoffman kiln, and the brick walls of the
kiln had a thriving colony of bee orchids.
--
Kay

On May 29, 11:41*pm, K wrote:
Sacha writes



As some of you will know, we manage most of our large garden as a wildflower
meadow/wildlife friendly environment, which means among other things that we
only cut the grass twice a year, and we spread some hay bales from a
wildflower-rich meadow in autumn. *Imagine our delight then to find some
pyramid orchids growing there for the first time! *No bad for land which was
the spoil tip from a brick yard when we bought it!
*Just thought I would share our pleasure.

You must be absolutely delighted!

Some orchids do well on basically ex-industrial land. The last pyramidal
orchid I saw was on top of a Hoffman kiln, and the brick walls of the
kiln had a thriving colony of bee orchids.
--
Kay

I remember seeing a small clump of bee orchids in the base of an
abandoned railway turntable. I live near the sea and there are
pyramidal orchids growing in the old sand dunes on the biggest nearby
beach (Bull Island in Dublin bay). It always cheers me up to hear
stories like this (nice plants emerging from nothing).

On Fri, 29 May 2009 23:41:17 +0100, K wrote
(in article ):

{Sally wrote}

As some of you will know, we manage most of our large garden as a
wildflower
meadow/wildlife friendly environment, which means among other things that
we
only cut the grass twice a year, and we spread some hay bales from a
wildflower-rich meadow in autumn. Imagine our delight then to find some
pyramid orchids growing there for the first time! No bad for land which
was
the spoil tip from a brick yard when we bought it!
Just thought I would share our pleasure.

You must be absolutely delighted!

Some orchids do well on basically ex-industrial land. The last pyramidal
orchid I saw was on top of a Hoffman kiln, and the brick walls of the
kiln had a thriving colony of bee orchids.


That's interesting Kay since this particular part of the garden has the
poorest soil - it took years for it to even green up a little. It must
thrive on that kind of soil.

--
Sally in Shropshire, UK
Posted through uk.rec.gardening

On May 30, 9:34*am, Sally Thompson wrote:
On Fri, 29 May 2009 23:41:17 +0100, K wrote
(in article ):





{Sally wrote}

As some of you will know, we manage most of our large garden as a
wildflower
meadow/wildlife friendly environment, which means among other things that
we
only cut the grass twice a year, and we spread some hay bales from a
wildflower-rich meadow in autumn. *Imagine our delight then to find some
pyramid orchids growing there for the first time! *No bad for land which
was
the spoil tip from a brick yard when we bought it!
Just thought I would share our pleasure.

You must be absolutely delighted!

Some orchids do well on basically ex-industrial land. The last pyramidal
orchid I saw was on top of a Hoffman kiln, and the brick walls of the
kiln had a thriving colony of bee orchids.

That's interesting Kay since this particular part of the garden has the
poorest soil - it took years for it to even green up a little. *It must
thrive on that kind of soil.

--
Sally in Shropshire, UK
Posted through uk.rec.gardening- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Many of the wild orchids you find in the UK (and Ireland :-) grow very
very slowly and use mycorrhizal fungi to help them get whatever
nutrients are available. That means they can gow on very poor soil.
Pyramidal orchids do not need much by way of nutrients.

On May 30, 9:34*am, Sally Thompson wrote:

That's interesting Kay since this particular part of the garden has the
poorest soil - it took years for it to even green up a little. *It must
thrive on that kind of soil.

There's an industrial site in Bolton which has amazingly high pH. If I
remember correctly, it was decades before any plant life appeared. But
it's now home to about half a dozen different varieties of orchid -
they can survive in the really poor soil, and gain the benefit of less
competition with other plants.
--
Kay

On Fri, 29 May 2009, Des Higgins wrote
On May 29, 11:41*pm, K wrote:
Sacha writes



As some of you will know, we manage most of our large garden as a
wildflower
meadow/wildlife friendly environment, which means among other
things that we
only cut the grass twice a year, and we spread some hay bales from a
wildflower-rich meadow in autumn. *Imagine our delight then to find some
pyramid orchids growing there for the first time! *No bad for land
which was
the spoil tip from a brick yard when we bought it!
*Just thought I would share our pleasure.

You must be absolutely delighted!

Some orchids do well on basically ex-industrial land. The last pyramidal
orchid I saw was on top of a Hoffman kiln, and the brick walls of the
kiln had a thriving colony of bee orchids.
--
Kay

I remember seeing a small clump of bee orchids in the base of an
abandoned railway turntable. I live near the sea and there are
pyramidal orchids growing in the old sand dunes on the biggest nearby
beach (Bull Island in Dublin bay). It always cheers me up to hear
stories like this (nice plants emerging from nothing).

There's a truly scruffy council block down the road from me, with a
scrap of trampled lawn that is regularly shaved by the council
groundsmen, crapped on by dogs and cats and gouged by skateboarders and
footballers.

Every spring it is covered in violets.

--
Kate B

PS 'elvira' is spamtrapped - please reply to 'elviraspam' at cockaigne dot org dot uk if you
want to reply personally

In message et, Sally
Thompson writes
As some of you will know, we manage most of our large garden as a wildflower
meadow/wildlife friendly environment, which means among other things that we
only cut the grass twice a year, and we spread some hay bales from a
wildflower-rich meadow in autumn. Imagine our delight then to find some
pyramid orchids growing there for the first time! No bad for land which was
the spoil tip from a brick yard when we bought it!

Just thought I would share our pleasure.

It really is wonderful when a wild orchid appears in a garden - ours
appeared in a lawn when I neglect it. We haven't had any new ones
appear for the last couple of years but the common spotted is going to
look good - it has four flowers about to display. We do have a
pyramidal but at the moment there is just foliage and no sign of a
flower.
--
Robert