Unidentified.........

I'm not a very organised gardener - most of the time it's more by luck than judgement. Every Autumn I visit the garden centre and get mesmerized by the vast array of bulbs and the gloriously coloured photographs of the flowers I could be growing in my garden by Spring and come out with bag loads of the things. I merrily plant them in every nook and cranny in our pocket-handkerchief of a plot...then promptly forget what I put where until I am surprised by an unfamiliar bloom come April. I think a lot of bulbs must be eaten by squirrels as I am sure I have planted many flag irises over the years but have only ever had two come up.....



Last year I bought a bulb that could be kept inside the house to bloom during the winter - don't ask me what it was, that was last year. I faithfully nurtured it, kept it warm and watered and watched it put out straggly thin and pale leaves, about one a month over the winter period. Spring came and went and so did my patience, so I jammed the pot in a corner of the patio and left it to the elements. Summer came and went (I think that was the two weeks of sunshine we had in June.....) and still nothing. However, a few weeks ago I noticed a sprout from the centre of the sad leaf collection and resisted the temptation to bring the pot indoors, although I did put it by the window so I could watch it's progress. Today it finally opened - I think it is some kind of lily - quite small and delicate, a lovely deep pink. Certainly a case of better late than never!

Today will be potato number 79 up for it's portrait.......I'm hoping to crack on over the weekend and go past the 80 mark, bringing the number of potatoes left to paint into the teens - psychologically that sounds really good to me, a definite light at the end of the tunnel.