David's Blog

What lovely children - so obviously enjoying themselves, too. (Thanks for the pronunciation lesson, I never know how to pronounce Irish names - how do you pronounce 'Aoife' for example???) Did your daughter have to change the name of her toy dog or was it bought specially?

Just out of interest, I have a dwarf conifer with the name Eilidh, Pinus parviflora 'Eilidh', it was raised by John Proudfoot, Methven, in Perthshire, Did he name it after your daughter perhaps ???

Its great to see children getting so much fun out of their garden. I will look forward to any future projects that you have planned!

Ive loved following you all year David and look forward to your next project , thank you for allowing me to be part of it all , may I wish you all a Happy and healthy 2008 ,Lang may your lum reek. Happy Gardening

ahhhhhh bless - what dear little munchkins you have, are they twins?

Hi, Spritz! Eilidh is the Scottish Gaelic version of Helen.The Irish would pronounce it as Aylish, I believe. As for Aoife, I personally, would say Effy, as in the shortened version of Euphemia. The toy dog is older than either of the kids (Eilidh is 5 and James 7, Majeeka), and still doesn't have a name. Thank you very much, Bluespruce, for letting me know that there is actually a plant with that name. It has gone onto my "wanted" list. Weemamabell, many thanks, I'm also looking forward to seeing your colourful garden in 2008! I have a feeling that it is going to be a good summer.Thank you very much, Andrea, now that we've started this "themed" gardening, and have been given so many suggestions, I am already looking at one or two possibilities for 2009!!

I've just looked at the photos you have added to growsonyou, nice to see the stars! Looking through the pictures shows how much work you must have put into this, but the results look brilliant!

A dog with no name? Perhaps you should start a competition on here like the one last year for rabbit hole signs. First suggestion - GOY of course!

I thought the dog in the Oz story was called Toto -or is my memory having a senior moment again?

Of course it is Toto - reflected by our rudbeckia hirta "Toto" flowers. But the poor wee dog in the pics isn't exactly like "Toto", who, after searching the 'Net and all possible Oz sites, was, it seems, a Cairn Terrier in the original 1939 movie. But - I have met a fairly local ardent Oz fan who has a REAL Cairn terrier called Toto!. He was supposed to visit for a photo shoot last summer, but did not make it. Hopefully, this year, tho!
Interestingly, tho, was another book in the Oz series by L. Frank Baum - "Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz". In this one, Toto has stayed in San Francisco and Dorothy ends up back in Oz with her pet cat, Eureka. We have a cat and she and Eilidh are inseperable! Also, the story was written just 2 years after the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, and so Dorothy ends up in Oz as a result of the ground opening up and descending (this time, rather than upwards in a tornado). The book has a chapter called the "Vegetable Kingdom" and Emerald City has become a Glass City. I find all this so suited to a garden project because of the veggy kingdom and that the glass city could easily be reflected by our greenhouse(s) and cloches. Also the fact that it may have been written prophetically, since most city centres now are glass cities, especially the rich business districts. Oh my Goodness! Am beginning to sound like an Oz maniac (which I am not), or a Mastermind contestant, LOL!

Love it, AndrewR! Could you imagine me standing on the Yellow Brick Road, holding the toy dog, and saying, "Here GOY, A Gottle o' Geer!", just like a steriotype ventriloquist. That appeals to MY sense of humour, LOL!
Seriously, I really enjoy your garden pics, blogs, etc. they help me focus on my REALITY. The dog in question was an impulse buy on the ship "Pride of Bilbao" on a trip to north Spain when my wife was expecting our son, James (I remember that we had an emergency stop off at the hospital in Kingston-Upon-Thames en route for a check-up). But he never, ever, got his own name - shame!

hi Marksbegonias1 Thanx4 the kind comments! I remember asking you last year about begonia"Munchkin"- I'm still searching, also for begonia "The Wiz". Last year was not really so much hard work, but the rain played havoc often. I think you hav so much more work producing show plants - but the results in your pics are so very impressive. Good luck for this year!

Hi Bluespruce! My Google search for Pinus parviflora "Eilidh" produces only your comment above! I cannot find it for retail anywhere in this universe! As for the name, having googled John Proudfoot and "Eilidh" I found several references to a John Proudfoot involved with forestry research and a few Eilidhs in the same line of work. Perhaps, then, the conifer you have was named after one of them?