Bud Bust

It is so disappointing when, after watching them grow for a couple of months, the flower buds on your Rhododendron contain only little leaves!

Big bud.

The problem that we have at Archerfield House, East Lothian, is that our soil is highly alkaline. With most of the estate being an ice age beach, the soil is very full of shell fragments, pushing the ph level up to 7.9 to 8.1 in places.

Rhodies like a ph of around 4.5 to 6, with no lime at all.

So basically all our ericaceous rhododendrons are slowly dying, their decease only being prolonged and postponed by our attempts to help them.

It looks as though we may be replanting with hydrangeas...

...but no blues!

PS Thanks for all the kind comments for yesterday's blip. We haven't heard from Euphling on his voyage, so we know everything is ok!