Gardening chat

Another day of blue sky and sunshine. I had a friend round this morning who had expressed an interest in acquiring a few monkey puzzles, so she joined me in a cuppa out in the sunshine, then I broke into my pot of seedlings.

After lunch I drove to Taynuilt to visit a friend who has a small plant nursery. I usually take him a plant as a gift - today it was a small plant of Buddleja loricata, which is said to be hardy throughout Britain, in spite of the fact that it's native to South Africa and Mozambique, where it grows up to 1,800 metres. It's certainly undamaged in my garden.

We had a good wander round the garden, talking plants, had a coffee in the sunshine and went into the glasshouse to see his black Mulberry, Morus nigra. He reckons it was damaged outside, though I thought it was supposed to be pretty hardy. Indoors it produces very large leaves, as shown in today's Blip. It was covered in fruit, so I tried a few. Not bad! I persuaded him to take some monkey puzzles, so maybe in a few years he'll be able to sell them.

Quote of the Day: 'I will not say that your mulberry trees are dead; but I am afraid that they're not alive.' - Jane Austen.