A fiery afternoon

A sunny, blue-sky day today. Not as hot as before, around 17°, but a good gardening day. 

After lunch I went down to Homebase to get more compost, but they'd sold out of my favourite brand, so I popped up to Poppies Garden Centre, but they don't sell that brand.

I went on to Connel, thinking I would take a(nother) picture of the wonderful embothriums in a garden there. I parked outside the Falls of Lora Hotel and walked over the road, planning to go up to the house and ask if I could take some photographs, but as I walked in a car drove in beside me. I told the man what I was after and he invited me to look around, which I did. The garden was huge and he began to walk round with me - he obviously knew what he was talking about and seemed please to find somebody who knew what embothriums were! (Just in case anyone's not familiar with this tree, it's Embothrium coccineum, the Chilean firebush.) The garden was full of old rhododendrons and vibrant azaleas, together with delicate Japanese maples, flaky old birches and many other delights.

I had a wonderful half-hour with him - he really knew his plants and amazed me by explaining how he pruned his shrubs. Very few people know about renewal pruning. It turned out that he owns the hotel and the garden is open to hotel guests to enjoy. 

I stayed on after he had to go in and wandered round again, taking photographs. The garden backs on to Loch Etive and there's a gate giving access on to the shore. As I left he came out again and made it quite clear that I was welcome to come in anytime I wanted to!  A very special afternoon!

Quote of the Day:

Alfred Austin – “The glory of gardening: hands in the dirt, head in the sun, heart with nature. To nurture a garden is to feed not just the body, but the soul.”