Comfrey (I think)

We've had a lovely day.

At last it feels like summer - here's hoping it lasts.

We went to an Open Garden day at Furze House, Rushall.  They have a beautiful garden, with many plants and trees that we coveted.  But we have to accept that our garden is rather smaller than theirs.  And our budget more limited.  I suspect the care of their 2 acres requires at least one full time gardener.

We then popped in to a garden centre, mainly to buy some baskets to plant up a couple of water lilies.  But we found a particular shrub that we have been looking for - Pittosporum "Irene Paterson".  We have a fondness for the pittosporum group, and had seen this variety at Wisley.  We've been looking out for it since then.

On the way home, we stopped off at a ford over the River Tas.  We found this ford quite by accident about a month ago, when we accidentally turned off the A140 too soon.  As we drove through the ford then, there was an egret in the water - but we didn't stop.  Today, I asked W to take the same route.  There was no egret, but there was a group of youths and dogs enjoying the sunshine and water - see extra.

Growing beside the river was a stand of this plant, which I think I have identified as comfrey.  I have become much more observant of the plants around me since starting to blip.