Stormy Weather

[Mr Pee]

The weather's been absolutely gorgeous down here for the last couple of days- today I took my trusty velocipede up into the South Downs, and it was glorious. Although there was one hill just outside the village of Stoughton that produced some, shall we say, post-watershed language from yours truly as I struggled upward!

The thermometer on my bike computer read 26 degrees at one point, which may not have been entirely accurate, but it certainly was remarkably warm for the time of year.

On the way back I stopped off at the Racton Tower, reputedly one of the most haunted, and certainly one of the spookiest places in the South Downs:-

http://www.kiloalphatango.com/racton_monument_front

[greenilex]

Re: outdoor and indoor potplants: as well as the endless avocados I have just taken a rather nice deep pink pelargonium out, and something I don't know the name of...it has long spotted tongue-like leaves in a bunch coming from a ? bulb or corm or tuber and flowers on a pale stem, almost transparent, with a tufty polleny flower. Don't like it excessively.

[Nick Armstrong]

The weather's been absolutely gorgeous down here for the last couple of days- today I took my trusty velocipede up into the South Downs, and it was glorious. Although there was one hill just outside the village of Stoughton that produced some, shall we say, post-watershed language from yours truly as I struggled upward!

The thermometer on my bike computer read 26 degrees at one point, which may not have been entirely accurate, but it certainly was remarkably warm for the time of year.

On the way back I stopped off at the Racton Tower, reputedly one of the most haunted, and certainly one of the spookiest places in the South Downs:-

http://www.kiloalphatango.com/racton_monument_front

[Mahlerei]

Byootiful day. Buns been out for hours & now lying stretched out under the garden table. What a life.

Have a good weekend, y'all.

[marthe]

The weather is improving here! In fact we've not had the rain promised by the forecasters so I've been out in the garden weeding and doing more clean up. I've got my onion grass problem almost under control. Sunny and almost 60F tomorrow (someday I'll get the hang of celsius temps.) It's a good thing too, as I'll be going on a walking tour tomorrow and leading one on Sunday!

Greenilex: what kind of pelargonium do you have? I only have one: it's a stellar called 'Vancouver Centennial'. I'm making cuttings of it to share with my sister.

Caliban: Racton Tower does indeed look spooky. Just the sort of sublime structure to delight a 19th-century Romantic.

Mahlerei: Hooray for the buns!

[salymap]

Hello marthe. Have you [or anyone else] heard of an annual/biennial called something like Venidio Arctotis?

I bought it from Sissinghurst many years ago and it turned up its' toes and died. It was a beautiful orange single daisy type, bit like a rudbeckia. I googled it on the Wisley pages I've added,not known they said.
Sorry,should have putit on Virtual Gardens. Glad your weather is better. I do centigrade to fahrenheit thus. C 20 multiply by 2, add 30 = 70F Rough and ready but nearly always works to within a degree or two.

[marthe]

Saly: my Wyman's Gardening Encyclopedia lists both Venidium or Monarch Namaqualand-daisy and Arctotis or African Daisy as separate types of plants. They are both described as annuals that are members of the Composite Family and natives of South Africa, as you can see from their respective common names. In another gardening book, Arctotis is listed as a short-lived perennial (disappears after a few years.) The accompanying picture shows a daisy-like plant with a bright orange flower something like a gazania (another plant from SA.) So many of these African plants are perennial in their native habitat but only work as annuals in colder climates. Many of them are light sensitive and will only open their flowers on sunny days. I hope this helps.

[marthe]

Saly, thanks also for the 'rough-and-ready' centigrade to farenheit conversion method! This would have pleased my father who taught chemistry. He was always thinking of ways to make these conversions easy! As a child, he learned centigrade first and then had to learn farenheit when he came to the USA.

[salymap]

Thanks marthe, it certainly didn't like my heavy clay type soil.

[marthe]

Ouch! Clay...so difficult to work. when I did archaeology in England, a soil type known as boulder clay was looked upon with a certain amount of dislike because it was hard to trowel. You must have to 'lighten-up' your soil with compost or other material.

[Uncle Monty]

The weather's been absolutely gorgeous down here for the last couple of days- today I took my trusty velocipede up into the South Downs, and it was glorious. Although there was one hill just outside the village of Stoughton that produced some, shall we say, post-watershed language from yours truly as I struggled upward!

On the way back I stopped off at the Racton Tower, reputedly one of the most haunted, and certainly one of the spookiest places in the South Downs:-

When I was last there, there was something about the piled up detritus of beer cans, pigeon-poo, a hypodermic, and other unmentionables that stopped me getting any romantic notions of spookiness about Racton folly

I miss the area, though, especially in this weather. Halnaker Windmill, the Trundle, Kingley Vale, the Devil's Humps, etc. Nice

[Mahlerei]

Namaqualand daisies grow wild in Namaqualand (northern Cape) and carpet the barren landscape with gold every spring. People trek miles to see this natural wonder - it's a spectacular sight. Although I lived in Cape Town for a while I never managed to make the trip to see them :(

[salymap]

That's interesting Mahlerei. They certainly didn't give them away at Sissinghurst. I just bought the one which was lucky because it didn't like my soil and my borders are not as sheltered as theirs. bestio

[salymap]

Morning Stormyweatherites, sunny but still chilly to me.

Do you all move your laptops around? I tend to leave mine in a north facing living room on a trolley, but wish a little sun sometimes reached this room. Actually it does, shining inconveniently on my large, old fashioned TV in the evening when I just might watch it for a bit. Problems, problems.

[antongould]

Morning
Another beautiful morning here - yesterday was the most beautiful April day I can remember for quite some time - daffodils and tulips magnificent!
When any form of daughter is home our laptops move around at an alarming speed and always end up with flat batteries exactly where they shouldn't be!