Chop, chop

A better day today - heavy dark clouds, but it stayed dry and we even had some sunshine! I had a lift with Mrs M to Dunollie after lunch and walked back - for the last time, as her her sewing group will be meeting at the Rockfield Centre in the future, as will most of Oban's  groups, clubs and organisations.

I had a good look at the hotel gardens along the Esplanade to see if I could find a suitable candidate for my Echium candicans - https://www.blipfoto.com/entry/2891012202393765952 - and some of them had ideal beds, raised beds facing the sun and only a few dozen yards from the sea. Unfortunately those owned by obvious plant lovers were full, and those with empty spaces were quite clearly not the sort of places I would waste my plants on!!

The sound of a chopper approaching down the Sound of Kerrera made me look up - I often see this one flying around Oban. Apparently it comes and goes from the Northern Lighthouse Board pier on the far side of the harbour, though it looks here as if it's going to land in front of the Manor House Hotel next door - I must investigate sometime.

Came home to find a nice little box of cuttings on the doorstep - sent from a friendly botanic garden via a former colleague. This is Fieldia australis, a creeping/climbing gesneriad from the temperate rain forests of Eastern Australia. I grew it outside at Arduaine for a while but eventually lost it - it's obviously not very hardy. Grows on the trunks of tree ferns, apparently. Worth another try and it's all good, clean fun!