The art of balance

I heard a great piece on the radio this morning about stone balancing. I'd love to give it a try, and some of our local beaches would be a good place to start as there's an abundance of fatastic rocks. A good idea to file away for a nice summer's day, picnic lunch, camera and trying something new.

Also a fantastic piece in the Glasgow Herald on a Scots couple, from the Isle of Lewis, working in Zambia, who have adopted two street children, and now foster 38 others. Most are orphans from Aids, and most are boys, as surviving girls get married off. The couple's own wee girl of six just thought that girls came in white and boys in black.

Life expectancy in Zambia is now 37!! It is 78 in Scotland.

My son is still sleeping. He had a wild night last night. He was at his friend's grandad's 80th birthday party. And no it wasn't in old folks home, it was in the pub and he got home at 2.00am!

I'm off to work in the garden again, cutting back things like peonies etc. The strange season continues as I have cowslips well in flower, but the forsythia isn't out yet. Euphorbia robbiae is in flower along the fence, I love the lime green flowers, but it does need space.

Blousy French ladies

My new bare-rooted roses finally arrive. They were due in October, but couldn't be dug up as they'd not gone dormant.They are all big blousy bourbon type flowers with heavy scent. I can't wait until the summer to smell them on a still evening. Two are French varieties, Mmme Isaac Pereire and Ferdinand Pichard, the other "Heritage" is a modern variety with an old look and a musk scent. I hope they do well, I've put them in ground that hasn't grown roses before, so there's no risk of roses disease in the soil, and I gave them a barrowload of homemade compost. Also finished tidying up the plum tree, now it too is dormant. I took off the large branch
damaged by the weight of the glut of fruit back in the summer. Also cleared the remaining grapes from the greenhouse, they were past their best, and pruned the vine.

Can't believe the amount of bulb shoots already through, I just hope we don't get a savage January/Feb that will frost and check all the growth. My winter jasmine is flowering, adding a Spring-like yellow to the a corner of the garden before we've even got to Christmas.

I'm looking forward to the garden next year, it''s in the best nick it's been in for years, I just hope the new things I've put in take and flourish