Party time!

The buddleia (see last post) has invited all its friends round.






Bees, butterflies, moths ...














So many visitors coming and going.

They're keeping me busy trying to identify and photograph them all.

Yes, Friko, I did get your message - thank you. I am a bit worried about where the roots are going so when it's finished flowering I think it will have to be evicted. Perhaps I'll be able to sprinkle the seeds somewhere more suitable. (You've got a big garden haven't you?)

Welcome visitor

As I have limited space and grow most of my plants in containers I usually choose the smaller varieties – and gaze longingly at 50-foot trees. But luckily nature isn’t so easily restricted.

At the beginning of summer I noticed a small, green shoot growing out of what I thought was solid concrete outside my back door. I assumed it was some sort of weed but because I didn’t recognise the leaves I left it to see what it would become.

It grew

and grew

and grew …

I am now the proud owner of a beautiful purple buddleia!

The seed must have blown here from a magnificent specimen two gardens away. It only has two stems, and is half the height of its parent, but the scent is wonderful!

Unwelcome visitors

One of the joys of a garden is the wildlife it attracts. I’m constantly surprised at the number and variety of creatures that find their way to my tiny plot, and the majority of them are very welcome.

But …

When I am Rich I will offer a large reward to the scientist who can explain:

a) Why, when my house is surrounded by hundreds of acres of delicious crops and miles of roadside verges filled with wild plants of all kinds, do clouds of aphids decide to set up home on my ONE miniature rose bush?

b) How do I persuade them they’d be much better off elsewhere?


I don’t like killing anything, but that little rose is very precious to me. So, I’m giving them fair warning. If they’re not gone by the time I count to ten it will be war – and soapy water.

When I am Rich

... I will have one of these!