Spritzhenry's Outbox

Hi Grindle - well, we went yesterday and it was good! Really enjoyed the day, though Celebrity talk was missed as the hall was full to bursting. came home with new purchases galore!

How beautiful! Isn't it a shame poppies don't last longer.

How big are the pots you grow them in? Can you please tell us more about cultivation and care. They are new to me, but I'd like to have a go if I can - they really are spectacular!

Lovely! Worth growing. I wonder if you can buy seeds just of this variety? I shall be looking.

Much prettier than the yellow kind!

Hi again! Well, I took the laptop up the lane, and my friend confirmed that your plant is indeed a variety of Evening Primrose - yes, there is a pink one - usually grown as a garden plant but does occasionally escape into the wild. Mystery solved! Hooray!!! :-D

Thought I was right - thanks both. Now just hope that the tomatoes ripen before the banana gets eaten :-)

What are the blue flowers in the border, Hoya?

Sorry to be totally facetious but I thought you might laugh when I tell you that our Labrador goes in for 'Pick Your Own'!! He goes in the greenhouse and picks and eats my tomatoes, and on our walks together he picks his own blackberries! :-)

Later...They've gone to ashes! I now have a bowl full of green tomatoes with a ripe banana in it. I heard an old wives' tale (that may have some scientific basis) about ripe bananas giving off gas that helps tomatoes to ripen. We'll see.

Hi Joey. I have still to take my laptop up the lane to show my friend your photo of the 'mysterious plant'. However, in the meantime I found a wild Evening Primrose plant and took its photo! I will post the results on my page for you to look at. I still think they are very alike, buds and leaves and size of plant. Please let me know when you've looked at them so I can delete them!

Hi Peter - your onions and peppers should be OK next to the tomatoes: the only other plant I am aware of that gets blight is the potato, being of the same family. You shouldn't grow them next to each other because of this problem, the spores can be carried by watering one, spilling onto the other. I am not going to risk composting, don't really know if the heat in the bin would kill the spores off, but not taking the chance,so I'm incinerating my plants!

Hallo Peter, mine - the ones outside - are exactly the same. Can't be lack of water, I guess they've been under stress and this is the dreaded blight attacking! I'm going to pick all toms green or whatever and dispose of plants...:-(

Oh wow! What a lovely sight!

How beautiful, Anita!

That's lovely and unusual - do you know the variety?

You don't have another photo from further away, do you? Really need to see the wholee plant, leaves etc before trying to identify.

I've been looking through wild flower books, and while I still can't identify this mysterious plant, the buds and leaves look so much like Evening Primrose. Without the flower, that's what it looks like. However, I have a very knowledgeable friend in the village, and I will ask her...she identified one for me, so fingers crossed! (Weather still beautiful)

Many congratulations on the 'New Look; - to all the team! I really appreciate the hard work you do on the website, it's great. Looking forward to more... :-)

Thanks! Yes, the grass is Stipa gigantea - it's shown in a previous photo. It is lovely when the sun shines through it, but LARGE and taks a lot of space!