A palm in the hand

Today was the first of several promised sunny days. I went down to MKM this morning to order a 1 tonne bag of topsoil and some scaffold boards to be delivered to the Corran Halls in preparation for Keep Oban Beautiful's little job at the weekend.

Popped into Homebase to see if the potted Phoenix roebelenii had been further reduced. These Pygmy Date Palms were originally priced at £35, then reduced to £24, and finally today to £10! Quite a bargain and my Blip today. Not hardy, but hopefully should be OK under cold glass in winter. We'll see. I could have bought a 6ft specimen from the Palm Centre, but that was slightly more expensive at £1,027.95!

After an early lunch I picked up my friend Sue and we set off for the u3a Garden Group's visit to Crarae Garden, an hour and a half away on Loch Fyne. I've known the garden for many years, getting on for 50, I suppose, and managed it for a couple of years in conjunction with Arduaine, back in to early 2000s.

The current Head Gardener was previously my First Gardener at Arduaine, and I was rather surprised to hear that he had resigned this very morning - rather an over-reaction if he'd heard that I was visiting today! I met the now Acting Head Gardener - we got on very well, so that sounds like fun for the future.

My extra today is the platform we built out over the Crarae Burn back in the day. It was intended to allow wheelchair users to look upwards, to the left, up the burn to the first waterfall, as the path upwards from this point is steep and stepped. Good to see that it's still standing!

Quote of the Day: 'I haven’t bought a yacht or an island or even a palm tree." - David A. Siegel. (Oh yes I have!)