Strawberry season

strawberries? no haven't chewed them at all...

Shall we talk politics? No? No appetite for it? I think we need a break. At least until Monday.

I spent almost the entire day at a cold and very windy football tournament. My entire face has gone bright pink with windburn. It's very eye-catching.

The littlest boy was charged with staying at home and looking after his puppy all by himself. Well, other people were at home too, but he was main dog man. He did beautifully. Feeding, entertainment, scooping etc.

Thank you for all of your tips, I've read your comments through a few times and memorised them. Bertie's settling in nicely. He sleeps so well; it's his saving grace. And he matches the cushions, that's good too.

He has long wavy ears. It occurs to me that I may be one of those people who looks like their dog. We could enter the 'Owner Who Looks Most Like Their Dog' class at dog shows. Something to aim for no?

A couple of new plants here this year. I've been a bit obsessed with aeonium Schwartzkopf since seeing it at the American Museum in Bath a couple of years ago. I found this photo I took - not the best picture of the plant, but you can just see it by the doorway. Lots of long bare stems with beautiful dark glossy balls of foliage on top.

Then I saw more outside of a seaman's cottage in Porthmadog, North Wales.

There are some other big green ones there as well. It became one of those plants I really hankered after. A few weeks back I bought a tiny one on eBay. When it turned up it was a bit of a disappointment to be honest. Pale green and weedy with hardly any purple tinge. I potted it out into a bigger pot and popped it on the windowsill. At the time I wondered if it even was a Schwartzkopf.

It quickly transformed beyond all recognition though. Now it's much bigger and a glossy dark purple. It'll be a long time until it reaches the size of the one at the American Museum, but I'm patient. I'm a gardener after all.

Another plant I was after was pelargonium Lord Bute. A Victorian variety, but still quite popular. It's a scrumptious deep purple, just about my favourite colour in the garden, after green and white.

Again, it's a small plant. I'll probably take a cutting or two if it's big enough in a month or so. Both this and the aeonium will need to be overwintered somewhere frost-free I think.

I hope all is well with you. Have a lovely Sunday. We'll be concentrating on not eating unripe strawberries and not biting small boys no matter how tasty they are. CJ xx