On the trail of the wicked Rhododendron ponticum!

After staying in Aberfoyle for the night I met Angus this morning and we embarked on a tour of private gardens in and around the village. It was rather fun to be able to visit gardens not open to the public and the owners had already made it clear that they were willing to participate in the Rhododendron ponticum removal scheme - see my Blip yesterday.

Some had just the odd plant, others a great deal, and understandably some owners were keen to keep some of the rhododendrons which looked particularly attractive, so we gave them the benefit of the doubt on a few occasions. There's no point being too rigid as some people absolutely refuse to lose any rhododendrons, and as this project is in its comparative infancy there will be further decisions made in the future.

One house had this lovely laburnum, which looked good against a white wall. I've seen bigger laburnums in the last couple of days than I ever thought possible!