Ducking n diving

The synchronised swimming practice was'nt going well.

Home again, unpacked. Normal life, well life as we know it, resumed. Spent an hour in the greenhouse potting up some self seeded antirrhinums & mimulus, watered some of the many cuttings I've got going, fingers crossed most of them take, plus having a general tidy up.  I want to have a plant fair in late Spring for Rowcroft Hospice or Cancer Research.
After watching Monty in Japan on tv last night I'm tempted to go down the Oriental garden route with my patch of bare ground but I don't think I can be that disciplined,  I love plants too much. I also like strong colours so I'm trying to stay away from pretty herbaceous perennials & stick with the hot theme. Mum treated me to a lovely new form of willow that I spotted in the garden centre, Salix gracilistyla 'Mt. Aso' - It has large pink catkins that turn red and black later in the season. It's top grafted so will have to be careful it does'nt get damaged. I also treated myself to a Pittosporum 'Tom Thumb', & bought a Euphorbia purpurea  backalong. There is a bit of a plan forming, as long as I don't go off piste.  I also managed to salvage a large pot of bamboo that was here when we took over the house rental, by splitting it, so my plant collection is gradually coming together.
Picked up a load of cat mess from the front garden. ARGHHHHH!!!! Bloody cats!  I'm not so bothered about the border around the small lawn/patch of grass at the front, there are some hacked conifers, plus a few other scruffy shrubs that I've pruned to try and get a decent shape, & I've got some bare root rosa rugosa, mixed colours, which hopefully are nice & prickly, to collect from a friend which I'll plant. They'll fill the border, have colour in the Summer with their blooms, possibly perfume, plus decorative hips to extend the interest. 
Oh look at the time! It's cider 'o' clock. I wanted to replace some ice creams that I eaten while dogsitting, & found when I Googled the brand that they were from Lidl's, so that's where I went yesterday. It was actually quite civilised in there. Annoyingly, the ice cream cones were out of stock but their Magnum lookalikes were available so bought a box. I'm not a big fan of shopping of any form although food excites me more than clothes, & plants are up there too.  Where was I, oh yes, so I needed to replenish my cider stock :) & as I was wandering down the aisle I spotted Woodgate cider. Never heard of it, Magners is my favourite. Woodgate cider. 20 cans. £9.99. Would be shame not to, so I did, & its pretty good. Which reminds me, it's medicine time .. Ciao 4 now!