Well….the Collectors’ Plant Fair was fabulous! Everyone as happy as could be with their finds! I do so enjoy being on my stall in the thick of it all, chatting to so many people – lovely to meet lots of you and to see familiar faces too, while in the distance I might spy someone with a plant I had my eye on (but knew I couldn’t have) walking by looking pleased as punch with themselves, or I discover something I hadn’t noticed that visitors to my stall are laden with. It is so much fun!
But one of the best things of all (and I know I’ve mentioned it before) is the little collection of plants in the footwell of the car on the way home from a fair. Undoubtedly, they are a collection that will never be near each other again, as they are dispersed through the garden to their new homes. But just for that drive (plus a few days more as I don’t have a second to plant yet!), they are together…a tantalising reminder of the fair. This time around, two strange things, a fabulous salvia and a variety of echium I’ve never seen before and.…how delighted I was to discover a rose I lost some years ago: a China Tea called Monsieur Tillier. How I loved his blooms for years – he was one of the first I bought and was such a splendid shrub for ages, then one year he curled up his toes. That’s one plant I do have a home for, but the rest, I’m still thinking on!