June 2010
Summer at last!

Certainly it was the most auspicious start for a summer season weatherwise, but there are plenty of signs around to remind us spring has passed. Plenty of plants are either in full bloom or are showing nice, swelling buds.

Last year my brother Chris gave me a small pot with some lilies, a specie called Lilium formosanum var. Pricei. It had finished flowering by the time we received and we had no real clue as to what we'd see this year. Well, never mind see, to the left, how about smell. It produced absolutely huge flowers for such a small plant and they were wonderfully scented. It's hard to describe the scent, except to say that it is quite different from the typical Oriental types, quite lovely.

Still going strong is an Asiatic whose identity is a mystery, but we suspect it is called 'Orange Beauty'. It is a ready bloomer and an easy one to propagate, stem bulbils galore.