My Auntie Pam

I don't normally go off piste so to speak, preferring to stick to gardening topics, but this week I've had a very special gift and wanted to share it with you all. As you can see from the photo I was lucky to receive this beautiful hand made blanket from my auntie Pam, I think it's one of the nicest presents I've ever been given. The work involved must have taken hours and it will be a treasured possession. I'm not sure about the suggestion that it travel up to Edinburgh with my daughter when she goes to university though, the state of her bedroom at home does not warrant such a pretty thing!
Auntie Pam mentions in her card that she recently put  one on e-bay and it sold within four hours, I'm not at all surprised, everyone would want a blanket made with such care.
So a big thank you to auntie Pam and uncle Bill for my lovely birthday present.

"It isn't the size of the gift that matters, but the size of the heart that gives it"
Eileen Elias Freeman

Chilly May #2

Mmmmm not much chance of drying my washing under these conditions. Blooming May!

"A lot of people like snow. I find it to be an unnecessary freezing of water"
Carl Reiner

Chilly May

The weather continues disappointingly cold, meaning I have been wearing full winter rig in May! My seedlings at home are sulking as are the dahlias at Norton Conyers, of which some have yet to appear at all. I hope we get some sunshine soon as there are only three more growing months before it's all downhill once more! It may be chilly but we are banking on there being no more serious frosts here and have planted the salvias out, this job takes a full half day but I enjoy seeing the borders fill up again. My own garden is coming along nicely and I have high hopes that some of the plants I have grown from seed will finally flower this year, and although my seedlings have not germinated very well, I think it is just as well being as there is no space left in my borders. I may have to offload some freebies to friends and family, but that gives me as much pleasure as watching things mature in my own space.

"Happiness held is the seed, happiness shared is the flower"
John Harrigan

Green Is The Colour

It comes as no surprise to me that the birth stone for May is emerald. Everywhere you look the land has awoken with a vibrant verdant lushness that can only herald the arrival of this most pleasant month.
Norton Conyers is now flexing its growing muscles and each day brings a new delight to cherish as Spring makes its presence felt. There is to be a grand dinner at the house on Friday hosted by Sotherbys, to present the HHA restoration award to Lord and Lady Graham, so we have been busy mowing with a vengeance and tidying up the clock tower garden where the restored summer house is looking lovely. We have still found time to wander down to the lake to admire the bluebells though, life is too short not to appreciate the things nature gives us for free!

"Green fingers are the extension of a verdant heart"
Russell Page