Max and me.

Another mixed day, a bit of everything. I decided to do some gardening (for a change!) after lunch so got suitably dressed, opened the door - and it was raining, even tho' lightly. I did some work indoors for a while and when the sun came out, so did I!  It was roasting - had to take my jumper off. I wish it would make its mind up.

I thought I should plant my Lophosoria quadripinnata, my special Chilean ferns - I Blipped a crozier on 31st May. I picked a spot and wheeled them down to the road in their big pots and carried them up the slope to the planting site. I'm always disappointed how photographs just do not show the steepness of the bank - I asked Mrs M to take this picture, but it looks as if I'm standing in a field instead of being propped up on a firmly dug fork on one leg and a stump on the other!!  The good thing is that I can water them in while standing above them on the deck; I do hope these will grow well. 

I must now find a place to plant my second most favourite ferns, Thyrsopteris elegans.  I split my biggest potted plant up last year and the biggest of the three seems to be showing a new frond, but I'm not sure about the smaller pair. This species is also Chilean, being endemic to the Juan Fernandez islands, 400 miles off the coast of Chile. One of these islands, Isla Más a Tierra, is otherwise known as Robinson Crusoe Island, where the Scot Alexander Selkirk was marooned back in 1704, giving him the idea for the novel 'Robinson Crusoe'.

Quote of the Day:

Max Beerbohm – “I utilise all my spare moments. I've read twenty-seven of the Hundred Best Books. I collect ferns.”