It has rained since lunchtime so didn’t get much done today. Wrote the Cutting Garden blog piece instead!

Was invited to see a neighbours garden this morning. Margaret is a keen and knowledgeable gardener and is now coping well without her husband Ted who died a year ago. Her garden is beautiful  and she has some real treasures including a row of Dahlia ‘Murdoch’ which has apparently been in her family for over 100 years! She has promised me some cuttings of Salvia ‘Indigo Spires’ which is a real show stopper.

Another friend has given me a pot of Geranium ‘Ann Folkard’ with vivid magenta flowers similar to G. psilostemon but with a more sprawling habit.

Geranium ‘Ann Folkard’

Cheltenham Horticultural Society meeting last Thursday was excellent thanks to a lively, interesting and controversial talk on “Hardy Perennials From Seed”  by Rob Cole of Meadow Farm nursery in Feckenham. Rob is a confident presenter and very witty. However, he does have firm opinions on TV gardeners and conventional wisdom! His advice on compost, seed sowing techniques, pots and propagators went against everything I have read or been taught! He reckons that he has tried every possible way of growing perennials over 30 years and is quite sure of his advice. Nice guy, I liked him a lot.

The Chairman has asked if I would put myself up for the Committee. Not sure I’m their kind of person – too outspoken, too radical, too impatient! We’ll see, I might change my mind.