On Hankley Common, Elstead, Surrey.

I see there is a great deal of Heather flowering on Hankley Common!

Beautifully wild and unspoiled like so much of the south coast. I am reminded of the New Forest…or rather photos of the New Forest as I still haven’t managed to visit!

Plenty of heathland in this area. I’m going to buy some more heathers for my garden, especially after this year’s drought. We always miss out on the rain in this SE region. They grow like weeds & need little care & I’m looking for things that are easy ,now that I’m getting old, :-)

Good idea, FF! I saw some in Sainsburys last Saturday & was tempted to get some for winter colour on the balcony. But when I looked at the label I realised they would survive on the balcony for long as they were the Calluna type that need acidic soil or watered with rainwater if grown in pots.

Our area has very hard water & it's practically impossible to collect rainwater on the balcony! We live in a block of flats & the down pipes from the roof are inside the walls so I can't collect rainwater from them. The balcony is covered so the only rainwater is what comes in when the wind pushes it in & that which falls from the balconies above us. Our balcony juts out a foot or so from those above us.

Balcony, I guess you’ll have to make do with winter Pansies or Violas then for some colour. They seem to do very well in pots that are off the ground.

Thanks, FF, but I can only grow them in pots or troughs on the balcony which I did for many years but a few years ago I had to give up growing them as every year they died on me. Apparently it's a virus that causes them to collapse where they are & turn brown before rotting away.

I had thought of getting some again this year but I don't know what to do yet. I love Pansies, ever since I was a boy in London when I often collected seeds from the public displays!