Mesembs at One Month and Six Months

Mesemb seedlings at 6 months, a set on Flickr.

A few months ago I talked about my Mitrophyllum disitum seedlings looking like “little blobs of plastic”. Now they are all scaly like little lizards as they grow their first true adult leaves.

The first batch of Mesembs I grew from seed are about six months old. The new batch is just a month old now.

I’m a little concerned with the older ones. Their growing conditions have not been ideal. Plus I am never quite sure how to care for them. It is hard to gauge too much or not enough water when something is so tiny.

If you overwater Mesmembs they get what is called an “over indulged” look. Swollen and bursting and they grow new leaves far too rapidly. This tricks many people into thinking they are doing well and then suddenly they collapse. I hope I am not over indulging mine too much.

Snowshill Manor

Snowshill Manor, a set on Flickr.

Once again I am falling behind with work so have not had time to update my blog with my England pictures so now I’m doing it at 4 am.

Snowshill Manor is in the Cotswolds to the northwest of London. The garden is small but arranged in several different levels and separate garden rooms and beautifully planted and maintained.

Just getting to the manor from the parking lot is quite a long hike down a long lane surrounded by hills and sheep. The garden itself is maintained organically by the National Trust.

Once again you can click each picture which will bring you to my flickr page where you will find descriptions and names of plants.

Revisiting Kew

Royal Botanic Garden, Kew 2011, a set on Flickr.

I’ve talked about the time I spent in England in 2004 as an intern at The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. It was a truly wonderful time for me and I even considered trying to find a job in England.

On this trip I didn’t plan on revisiting any of the gardens I had seen before but since I spent so much time at Kew I thought it would be fun to go back. I really wanted to see the modern Alpine House which was in the early stages of construction while I was at the garden.

The garden was just a few short subway stops away so it seemed foolish not to visit so I planned to go the morning my father and sister were arriving in London figuring by the time they got through customs and made it to the hotel we would be back.

Of course little did I know that our tube stop and in fact the entire line all the way to Kew and beyond were shut down for construction. So it ended up being a long bus trip instead but it was worth it for the nostalgia alone and it was nice getting to show my brother the garden I had worked in and had so many great memories of.

Again the thumbnails will bring you right to my flickr site and each photo has a description and plant name.

Beth Chatto Gardens (finally)

Beth Chatto, a set on Flickr.

Time to stop making excuses and start posting pictures! If I wait any longer no one will be interested or even remember that I have a blog. I’ll try to figure out how to make slideshows in the future but for now I am going to try to use Flickr’s integrated features to make posting pictures faster.

Beth Chatto Gardens was as wonderful as I imagined it would be. My main interest was the gravel garden but the water garden and the rest of the gardens were really impressive as well.

Edited to add: Well this works just as well as a slideshow.  Thumbnails that take you right to my Flickr set.  You can view them as a slide show if you wish or just go through them pic by pic.  In the interest of time this is probably how I’ll put up the rest of my England pictures over the next week.  Let me know what you think.

Slideshows and WordPress

So I’m trying to update my blog I really am. I’d like to add simple Flickr Slideshows to share pictures of my England trip.  It is supposedly possible. I have seen other people do it.  Sadly I am completely inept at these things and despite following supposedly “simple” instructions explaining how to do it step by step I am still unable to make it work.  Instead of a slideshow I get a link to a slideshow and even that link simply returns a black page that doesn’t do anything.

I am at the point of frustration now that I may shut down this blog and start a brand new one that is more Flickr friendly.

You suck Word Press!