Plant of the Day

Wednesday 26 July 2023

The slow growing plant Pelargonium ‘Freak of Nature’ (geranium) needs to be grown in good light conditions. The appearance can be variable but the stems are white with green and cream leaves. Any fully green shoots that appear need to be removed. This cultivar was first recorded in 1880.

Jill Raggett

Unexpected berries! What kind of berries do you think these are? Hint: I learned this year all parts of this popular #hangingbasket plant are edible. #Fuchsia! This is the first time I've had a fuchsia set fruit like this, though. It likes the cooler temperatures and heavy rain we've had. Maybe in the past I deadheaded it before the pods had a chance to ripen. These taste a little like mulberries and the juice is a deep, rich purple. What a fun surprise! . . #todayilearned #gardening #edibles #edibleplants #unexpected #bloomoftheday #fruit #berries #nature #botany #mygarden #mygardentoday #tenderperennial https://www.instagram.com/p/By_ALwcFfFG/?igshid=1vny3wmidpxnu

Cooling Their Heels || Alice and Petunia

@tenderperennial

To say that Alice was irritated would be making an understatement of enormous proportions. Alice was seething...and there was nothing she could do about it. She had been given orders, and she would follow them; she wasn’t in a position to buck or balk right now, not with her own interview on the matter of her suspected involvement with the Order of the Phoenix looming on the horizon.

At least it gets you away from your desk, Alice told herself in what was meant to be a soothing thought.

She wasn’t soothed; she was an Auror for Merlin’s sake, and here she was being sent to babysit some Muggle! This was a task for the most junior members of the MLEP, not an accomplished Auror like Alice Ros--Longbottom! But it was her task, and with her wand-arm all but useless and her loyalty in doubt, it was probably the best she could hope for. Perhaps things would change after the inquest was over...but for the moment, she needed to be on her best behavior, so she picked up her pace and strode through the doors to the little lobby in front of the lifts.

She had planned to get there before the Muggle, but only barely; while Alice was in no hurry to spend more time at the cage of her desk she also had no desire to waste any more of her time on this farce than necessary, but as it turned out she was waiting for several minutes before the doors of the lift rattled open and disgorged Petunia Evans and her two-agent escort. “What took you so long?” Alice snapped, glaring at the agents; one of them shook his head tiredly while the other just smirked at Alice and rolled her eyes toward the Muggle. They barely waited for the woman to step out of the lift before they pounded the lift button and were whisked away.

Alice turned her attention to the Muggle and the smile she had attempted to force almost withered on her face. The woman was dressed much like she had been the first time Alice had seen her outside the Wizengamot over the summer, although with obvious adjustments made to account for the chill December weather; that she had made no other adjustments to tailor her garb to something more suitable to the environment of the Ministry offended Alice, and it was all she could do to unwrinkle her nose and bare her teeth in a chilly smile.

“Welcome to the Ministry, Miss Evans,” Alice said briskly. She didn’t bother holding out a hand to shake; even if her wand-arm had been fully functional instead of limp and twitching and tucked in tight against her side, she didn’t expect Muggles to be up on social niceties like handshakes, and offering one would probably only confuse the woman. “My name is Alice Longbottom and I will be your escort while you are on the premises.” She wasn’t sure if Lily’s sister would remember her or not; she knew that Muggles were not very bright and forgot things easily, which at least meant that Alice probably didn’t need to worry about Petunia Evans repeating anything her sister might have let-slip about knowing Alice better than she had a right to. It also meant that the next few hours were going to be unimaginably tedious.

Alice took another deep breath, gritted her teeth, and said in as cheerful a voice as she could manage, “The Wizengamot is running a little behind today I’m afraid, so your appointment with them has been postponed half an hour. Is there anything I can do to make you more comfortable in the meantime?”

You Brew My Coffee (This Means Something) -- tenderperennials

He hated it when Lily Evans made her presence known. He didn’t have very high hopes when she’d suddenly decided to bring her sister along as well. Lily was practically insufferable as it was, how could her sister be any better? If he took the time to truly think about it, he’d have realized that this line of thinking was precisely what he would not want people to think about himself and Sirius, but they were the exception, whereas this muggle could only be part of the rule.

He hadn’t watched the interview with Edward Tonks wherein she’d attempted to out their entire world to the general public of muggles, but he’d heard all about the fallout. At the time that it had happened he’d merely chalked it up to background noise, his own plans forming while he’d struggled with the gravity of what he was about to do. It was only now that he was comfortably hidden away from the rest of the world that he was able to take the time to process all of the things that he’d deemed background noise in the months leading up to his trip into the Crystal Cave… But he knew. He knew now that she was the one that threatened them all.

He also knew that the tee shirts that Sirius and James had provided for him left the mark on his arm in plain view. It throbbed continuously, making itself a constant presence. He knew what the Death Eaters had done to the Evans family. He’d been left out of that particular… excursion, but it didn’t make him feel the guilt any less as he glanced over his shoulder at the girls. Family was important, and while he might not know very much about muggles and how they went about their affairs, he could only assume that they felt as strongly about their own family as he did his. He didn’t want to think about what he would have felt if anyone had dared to attack his Mother or Father.

He found some solace in doing things without magic in the house. Certainly it took time away from research, but it typically gave him time to think. When the girls arrived he had been up to his elbows in suds, washing the dishes. His mind had quickly gone from thoughts of the horcrux to what they’d gone through, despite his distaste for them. Typically, he tried his best to ignore anyone else when they entered, but this time he found himself glancing back yet again at the muggle.

“I’ll put on some tea,” he said quietly, the first time he’d ever made that offer, sure that the gesture was his attempt at some kind of extension of an olive branch. He didn’t know if things were reversed if the offer would have meant anything to him, or if she even knew the connection between the mark on his arm and what she’d gone through, but the only thing that it symbolized now was regret. “Unless you’d prefer coffee?”

A sunny flower for a dark #wintersolstice - Canna 'tropicana gold' for late summer & autumn flowers. In sheltered areas on well-drained soil it should stand overwinter to flower the following year #tenderperennials #gardendesigner

Plant of the Day

Thursday 25 May 2023

In the warmth of a tropical glasshouse the tender Ipomoea indica (perennial morning glory, blue dawn flower) was flowering. As a member of the bindweed family it is not surprising that this is a vigorous climbing plant.

Jill Raggett

Plant of the Day

Wednesday 11 January 2023

This bulbous perennial is probably the double flowering cultivar Hippeastrum 'Arctic Nymph' (amaryllis). It has just finished flowering after producing three strong flowering stems. The bulb was purchased in a box as a supermarket reduction and proved an amazing bargain. The foliage will continue through the summer so hopefully there will be more flowers next winter.

Jill Raggett

Plant of the Day

Tuesday 2 May 2023

In the shelter of a glasshouse Pelargonium myrrhifolium var. coriandrifolium was scrambling over the ground. This tender perennial thrives with a free draining soil and full sunshine.

Jill Raggett

Plant of the Day

Saturday 28 January 2023

Although technically a shrub Heliotropium arborescens (heliotrope, cherry pie) is most often grown as a tender perennial. Here it has the protection of a glasshouse and is continuing to flower during the winter. The plants were filling the air with the sweet-scent of cherry pie from the clusters of deep violet-blue flowers.

Jill Raggett

Plant of the Day

Friday 27 January 2023

In this glasshouse the tender, evergreen perennial Solenostemon scutellarioides (coleus, painted nettle) creates a colourful pool of orange foliage. This plant has semi-succulent, square stems which will root easily from softwood cuttings which allows a huge range of cultivars to persist. The small, spikes of blue flowers are usually removed to encourage foliage development.

Jill Raggett

Plant of the Day

Sunday 7 May 2023

The species Pelargonium graveolens (rose geranium, sweet-scented geranium, lemon scented geranium) is one of the most commonly grown of the scented leaf pelargoniums as it is easy to grow and propagate. The foliage is rose-lemon scented and it has mauve flowers. This plant species is used in the production of essential oils for the perfume and cosmetics industry.

Jill Raggett

Plant of the Day

Thursday 29 September 2022

These amazing Dahlia cultivars were adding drama to a small front garden in Kirkwall, Orkney. There was a pink pompom Dahlia and a vibrant cactus type with the typical double blooms, with very narrow petals from the tip to the base.

Jill Raggett

Plant of the Day

Thursday 16 February 2023

A native to the rainforests of Brazil Begonia luxurians (palm leaf begonia) creates an exotic looking houseplant. Here this frost-tender, evergreen perennial is growing in a glasshouse setting where it can reach up to 2.5m in height. From spring into summer clusters of fragrant pale yellow to white flowers appear above the leaves.

Jill Raggett

Plant of the Day

Saturday 10 September 2022

This container included cultivars of summer bedding plants including Petunia, Brachyscome and Lobelia erinus which produced great colour combinations that complimented each other and the house paintwork.

Jill Raggett

Plant of the Day

Sunday 29 January 2023

Hechtia species are bromeliads that originate from Florida to Brazil but are primarily native to Mexico. This range gives Hechtia special adaptations allowing them to handle conditions other bromeliads will not including thriving in bright, sunny deserts and tolerating colder temperatures. Unlike succulents Hechtia species do not hold water in their tissues to tackle drought but slow their growth when water is not available.

Jill Raggett

Plant of the Day

Friday 20 January 2023

Enjoying the sheltered environment of a glasshouse is Tradescantia sillamontana (white velvet, white gossamer, cobweb spiderwort) an evergreen perennial with erect to trailing stems of folded leaves covered with silky white hairs and having deep pink, 3-petalled flowers. This plant is useful for summer container displays and will tolerate the occasional lack of watering. The species is native to the dry regions in Mexico.

Jill Raggett