Xref: 127.0.0.1 uk.rec.gardening:161349

The message
from Ian Wolfe contains these words:

I read in today's Herald that the Arran White Beam and the Arran cut-leaved
White Beam, both members of the Rowan family, face being wiped out
because of
Scotland's increasingly wet weather. Apparently Arran is the only
place on earth
where they grow naturally. The WWF for Nature has placed both on a
global list
of species dangerously close to extinction. Let's hope Janet can have
a positive
effect on Arran:-)

On Arran weather???? :-)))))

On Friday the house there became ours, so we dashed over for the
weekend to set up a base camp before the move proper. The kind previous
owners had left for us; a bed, a cooker, (we knew about those),a
spotless cosy house, and unexpectedly, an old table and chair, cushions,
a freshly laundered towel, new soaps and loo paper, wine glasses and a
bottle of wine, and a welcome card :-). Also, a wonderful old workbench
and vice in the garage, a bucket of corn, and a request to feed the tame
pheasants who come to the door. What lovely people.

It was raining torrentially between slivers of sunshine, but Arran was
still gorgeous. Between walks we sat at the window watching many
rainbows appear and disappear across the bay below, behind it the jagged
peaks of Goatfell sweeping in and out of clouds, the top sprinkled with
snow, waterfalls bouncing down the gullies, lower slopes covered in
glorious rust and purple autumn colours of heather and bracken, and at
the foot, the woodlands around the castle green and gold. Enough magic
for me :-).

Janet