A trip to the Himalayas

It must have rained quite a bit overnight as my wheelbarrow had 4 or 5 inches of water in it this morning. As has been the case recently though, the sun began to shine and the day got ever better. 

I planted half a dozen Geranium palmatum in a little gully on my bank. Though native to the Canary Islands they're generally hardy here and all these plants are random seedlings that've I dug up and potted, or pulled out of other potted plants. I've tried Geranium maderense, which as you might imagine comes from Madeira, but this species is definitely not as hardy and I've lost it several times.

After lunch I walked down town to meet my friend Charles whose arm I'd twisted into giving me a hand (no joke intended!) to uproot a stand of Himalayan balsam growing in the corner of the town beach. This plant, botanically, is Impatiens glandulifera and is a very invasive annual which can completely take over an area, growing to several feet tall. It's a very serious pest up here - and probably elsewhere - and I've seen fields of it, dozens of acres. Being an annual, if it's pulled before setting seed it can gradually be eliminated. This is what the law in Scotland says -

"Himalayan Balsam was added to schedule 9 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 in Wales and England. This country later included it towards the end of 2011. The Act makes it an offence to grow Himalayan Balsam in the wild. Although you are allowed to have Himalayan Balsam on your property, it is an offence to allow the invasive plant to spread someone else property." 

So if you see it, pull it!