Written by the missus!

I was getting on with one of my new laminated guides this afternoon. I'm planning to have four new ones that can be given out on request to particularly plant-loving visitors and really want to finish them before I retire next month.

They will be '20 classic rhododendrons', '20 special ferns', '20 South American plants' and '20 rare plants'. Each will have thumbnail pictures and a small amount of text and on the reverse will be a garden map with the plants' location shown by number.

What I was eventually getting to was that while working on the fern one I remembered that I'd been wanting to look for a particular fern book, and found it on the bookshelf in my office - a lovely volume by 'Mrs Lankester', published in 1903. From there to a Blip was but a short step, both metaphorically and literally, as I went over to the glasshouse for more light and more interesting surroundings!