Acidanthera Murielae

Another newbie in the back garden, planted as corms in the Spring, native to east Africa, one of the common names is  Abyssinian gladiolus. Whatever its called I'm glad I picked up a pack. They are quite striking, & late flowering. I also bought a Helenium from a florist shop in Teignmouth, a lovely potful of healthy looking plant for £4 which I thought was a bargain, especially as they were priced at £7.99 in the garden centre I visited after.

Today started dull with a threat of rain, but I headed off to George & Jeans to start tidying up the borders at 8am. Its that time of year,  cutting back herbaceous perennials, staking late flowering plants, dead heading the Cosmos that seem to go on & on flowering. Another job removing all the plastic coated garden wire that George insists on using to tie everything .. He is a character. He followed me all around the garden while I was working,  he has plastic chairs strategically positioned to follow the sun.  I was there for 5 hours, & still not finished.
Back to Chudleigh, did a quick shop, back for lunch, then a bit of gardening at the house. Dinner tonight .. low & slow cooked pig's cheeks.  I combined a couple recipes to achieve the end result which I was rather pleased with, wow, were they tender. .One of the recipes I came across suggested 3 cheeks per person. THREE?? We had one each, slow cooked with a mirepoix, white wine, fresh bay leaf & thyme, finished with mushroom & cream,  delicious with homegrown potatoes, onions, runner beans, carrots from Teignharvey, & caramelized apple slices, so satisfying eating homegrown produce. I'm  wondering if I could grow celery successfully. I certainly won't bother growing cues again. I must make a list for next years crops & make a planting plan. Tomorrow morning I'm off to turn more ground and plant the remainder of the leek plants. :)

Watched Gardener's World .. .one of the few programmes I enjoy watching.

Thanks to Anni/BikerBear for hosting