Dispatches from the shed…

I hope the Hairy Hooligan kept you entertained whilst I was going potty?

Disappointingly I was about a day short of finishing the task. But am confident that I can do a bit each weekend morning for the next few weeks. i.e. before the neighbours are up and about. They seem incapable of doing anything quietly.

As you can see. Real pottiness was a danger by Monday. This is me repotting a Mandrake root and wearing earmuffs as recommended by Professor Sprout in Harry Potter. This picture got me accused of spontaneity. I have never been called spontaneous in my life, which only goes to show how much things have changed for me in the last year.

By wednesday evening I had spent six days on my feet in hot weather, my hands scratched to bits on potting grit and my joints were starting to grumble. A very hard 90 minutes at the gym on thursday night pretty much finished me so I am now (friday), hobbling around like a man thirty years older..

On Thursday I had to return to work. Unfortunately it was an exceptionally pants day, even by their standards.

Today, however, has seen me get an unexpected day off work due to a power outage. Even better, it is raining for the first time in two months. Hence I am catching up with friends and with blogging etc.

As it is Friday you can have some geeky plant stuff too. Below are pictures of some of the weird and wonderful bulbs and corms I have worked with this week. Many would make wonderful graphite drawings some day.

Reticulate patterned corms of Moraea elegans

Romulea discifera named for its discoid corms

Hesperantha pauciflora

Wachendorfia

Tiny flowering size corm of Gladiolus uysiae

Tiny bell shaped corm of Lapeirousia silenoides

If you were wondering what these are like in flower there are some pics of a few of them below.

Hesperantha pauciflora

Moraea elegans

Lapeirousia silenoides