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You are right about water use, here in the UK water is very rarely a problem so it is often taken for granted. In the coming years, due to climate change, that attitude will have to change as heatwaves are forecast to happen more frequently & be more intense leading to drought conditions in many parts of the country.

People will have to forgo lush green lawns & watering of our plants. We will have to use more Mediterranean style plants that are better adapted to dry, hot conditions.

Well, the quiz wasn’t as tough as in previous years, as you no doubt noticed. Yes, for once we got about 98, though felt some of our answers were just as good as the ‘correct’ ones!

Julia, I will ask OH if he still has the questions on his computer, but they could well be deleted by now …

Oh thanks so much friends for all the lovely messages, they're really appreciated.

You're right Balc, cushings is very common in small elderly dogs. I'm sorry to hear one of yours suffered with it too..

Thank you BB, yes their like our children who never grow away from us,
she was a real firecracker when she was young, she'll always be with me..

Aw Rose, thank you so much, you met Lottie last summer. Pets are our joy aren't they, I remember you telling me about your twin cats from years ago..x

Hello Sandra, I hope youre both well and keeping snug.
I remember you telling us about your Yorkie and now you have Poppy staying with you sometimes. All special little creatures. I still have my old cat Poppy who's missing Lottie too.
We know this will happen someday, but never really prepared.
You take care of yourselves. x

Aw Sheila, thank you, I have been very lucky with all the wonderful kind messages. The sadness will pass and she'll always be here with me. x

Sheila, I have been researching all of them and am very surprised at the difference in height given! RHS, nurseries, plant suppliers often seem to differ which is not helping me plan the garden at all.

Yes please to the quiz answers, did you both complete all of them?

Hi Sheila, would love to see the questions please.

Stunning … added to favourites!

A wonderful collection Shirley, and a lot of hard work to come, but what gorgeous colours. You have a fantastic array to look forward to!

Btw, would you like to see the answers to the Rotary quiz?

Your dear Lottie meant so much to you Janey, and it’s great to read so many heartfelt messages of sympathy for you. We all know that it’s like losing one of the family, and particularly hard just before Christmas. I’m afraid the crying doesn’t stop, but I’m thinking of you and sending you a rather damp hug. xx

Hello Janey, I haven't been on Goy for quite a while now,but always look in now and then,so I've only just seen your sad news about Lottie.
So sorry you have lost your little soulmate, but she couldn't have had a better life in her 14 years than with you.

I can understand how you will be feeling,we had a Yorkshire Terrier for 16 years,and it's like losing one of your Family which they are .
Thinking of you with love. xxx

They are all so beautiful! So many!

So sad for you as I know how much she meant to you.
You have some lovely memories and she had a lovely life with you. xx

Absolutely stunning collection.

So sorry to hear your news. They truly are family members and we feel their loss so keenly.

Both are absolutely gorgeous when flowering.

Lovely to see it blooming.

Fabulous.

They are fascinating flowers! Not commonly seen here.

Love Begonia blooms.

Balcony, I always view the challenges here as opportunities to learn. The technique you described used in Spain for growing vegetables is very similar to practices used here in some areas of Australia. We are always looking for ways to use water efficiently and effectively. It's such a precious resource.

I found a site that had over 100 different Hippeastrums on offer (in the Netherlands). They also have a large collection of lilies (so look for a blog this summer on the ones I have reserved).

While all of these have flowered, there are additional spikes that are still coming up and flowering, so the season of flowers is about 3 months long. There are also another group I have drying out and waiting for spring. Then there are those I have grown from seed that are still growing to the flowering stage.

I like them all but fave I think is the variety that has a cat in one photo. Is that Gervase? My Hip is shooting up nicely, a red one I believe bought for me for Christmas. The one from last year I haven’t started to water yet.

I liked that those little back passages had been cleared & each house had made their own little garden there, such an improvement.

Karen, this is a beauty.

that is so pretty Cottage Gardener.

I am hoping Morrisons will be getting theirs in soon.

Oh Shirley_tulip, that is an incredible bargain in comparison what it would cost here. Looking forward to see it in your garden.

They are beautiful, I didn't know there were so many different types.

David, that's where I bought mine from!

Thanks for posting these photos of your Hippeastrums (Amaryllis) Wylie. They all look wonderful!

I have 2 bulbs in the kitchen that I started off a week or two ago but I have a lot more that I haven't started yet.

I also have 3 pots of Clivias. One is a small offset that probably isn't big enough to flower this year but should do so next year. The other 2 pots have several flowering size bulbs in them but as they take up too much space in the flat I've left them out on the balcony.

I did bring all my bulbs in when we had that week of temps below freezing as they wouldn't have survived otherwise.

A great bargain there, Shirley! They look to be the same as in Sainsburys.

One of ours died from Cushings as well.The others from heart failure. The vet told us it is a very common occurrence with small dogs.

We went out as we felt it was too gloomy to stay indoors!

:) x

Julia, we had done the grocery shopping, paid and were on our way to the lifts when the bulbs display stand caught my eye! £20 for this lot seemed too good to miss ... :o))

Oh Shirley those GC owners should be more careful with their display shelves!!!HaHa...Great selection you have there !

Summer brights collection:

15 Liatris Spicata 10 Freesia Single Yellow
4 Gladiolus grandiflorus Peter Pears 1 Dahlia Mignon Pink

Cut flower collecton:

10 Anemone coronaria Sylphide
1 Dahlia decorative Wittem
5 Gladiolus grandiflorus Passos
14 Ranunculus asiaticus Orange

Pink & Purple collection:

18 Liatris spicata 30 Oxalis deppei
10 Freesia single Blue
1 Lilium oriental El Capitan
10 Gladioli grandiflorus Purple Flora
30 Ranunculus asiaticus Pink
1 Phlox paniculataLaura

I hope these plants will encourage pollinators into my garden.

You sound a little more positive too. Only 3 degrees with thick cloud today so it's a 'stay indoors' day for me.

Janey, I am reading Carol Klein, 'Hortobiography' at the moment, very surprising reading of her younger days! I shall say no more.

I keep referring to Rachel de Thame, 'A flower garden for pollinators' as it has so much information on the insects, not just Bees, and the plants they are attracted to.

Your book from Jim sounds wonderful.

these are wonderful flowers. I only have 4 and they are lovely and always bring me joy too.

Crows 🐦‍⬛. 😂

There’s also lots of different species of parrots 🦜.

It’s actually considered a shrub. It can grow pretty tall, though.

The thickest trunk of any palm. Sorry!

Redwoods and Giant Sequoias have absolutely massive trunks.

We dodged another bullet, luckily.

It’s still extremely dry here and expecting more Santa Ana’s next week Monday. Ugh 😩! I don’t think we’ll have any rain in January. Very crazy! After February we don’t usually receive much rain.

Sounds like a good strategy.

Lovely Karen! It's from the same range as my Ice N Roses Early Rose, I bought in October. It's been full of buds and flowers since then. When the thick frosts came it hung it's head as it was frozen in its pot.
With the milder temps, up it came all buds and flowers intact.
Yours looks to be a deeper pink than mine. They really are worth having..

Wow you've done well Shirley, too cold here yet. Sounds like a very good idea, and these plans we make right now get us through the winter days. Are you enjoying your new garden book?
My son Jim sent me a lovely garden book too. It's all photos of paintings of gardens, very interesting and unusual.

Karen their warning chatter is so loud! In spring when Pops is about, off it'll start, but of course the Wren probably has nestlings, Pops is too old now to bother..:)

Keep warm and snug, we'll soon be through January.

Yes Karen, so full of bounce and joy. She had Cushings though, and after a year the treatment wasn't working.
Such characters! And such sidelong looks when they don't get their way, which isn't very often!
Oh Molly, she was a monkey wasn't she. 😏
I remember when we first brought Lottie home, she was so tiny and Poppy and Teddy washed her face. I'm sure she grew up thinking they were her mum and dad!
I was blessed to have her like you were with Molly..x

I am Shirley, thank you. It was her time bless her. She'd been so much fun over the years. I remember when she was quite young, the tree surgeon who had a JR himself, was throwing the ball for her and she caught it every time. Mmm he said clever little b----r isn't she..😁 and she was..

Wow! You have so many! They are all stunning. Mine gave me a lot of joy over Christmas. Now let me see…which do I like best? I think Gervase, especially with Krull!