Fri: rain stopped play

Well, that was a short day!

It didn't seem that cold, so I went out in shorts, with just a hint of drizzle in the air.

Arrived at the garden, planted out some forget-me-not kindly donated by yesterday's client: yes, most people want me to weed them out, but today's client actually wants them, and complained that they weren't available to buy anywhere!  So I transplanted five good sized clumps, and no doubt I will spend the rest of my time there trying to remember NOT to weed them out...

Barely had I finished plonking them in carefully planting them, when the drizzle suddenly started hitting the back of my jacket with wet splots, so it was time to pack up and run for home. Ten minutes work.... drat.

Still, I have some updating of my website to do, I have more plants on offer this year - in particular I have a lot of Smilacena racemosa,  or False Solomon's Seal, picture of mature plants right.

They start off just like Solomon's Seal: at present they are just poking their noses out. The stems and leaves are very similar, but the flowers are very different - these guys have these funny fluffy balls of flowers.

Great for shade, and they clump up in no time, which makes them good value as well. All the books say that they prefer acid soil, but I have them growing in very ordinary Oxfordshire clay soil, and growing very successfully in common or garden B&Q compost.

I also have some lilies that were very badly labelled: I think they are"Black Beauty" but I'm not 100% sure, so I can't either label or sell them until they flower, which is a bit irritating. They aren't supposed to flower until August, so I have a while to wait yet: although they are sprouting so quickly at the moment that it seems impossible that they won't be ready for months!