Something different

A fairly calm and nondescript day weather-wise today,  which was better than I expected. Spent the day treating the timber in the glasshouse and doing a bit of planting in the drive bed. 

I had a look at some of the sowings of fern spores from years ago - I had almost given up on them and many had germinated and died. Some were still in the body however so I carefully potted them up in the hope that they will be salvageable. There were grown from spores from the Spore Exchange of the BPS, the British Pteridological Society, aka the Fern Club! It's a good way of getting hold of some very rare ferns and I regret that during the time of my retirement and everything that went on afterwards, buying a house and moving, that these gems were neglected. Maybe I'll be able to grow a few on.

I went down town after lunch for one or two things and stopped on the way back to photograph this Red Valerian, Centranthus ruber, which is growing along the stone walls of a house below the church up behind the old Rockfield School. It's not a plant I associate with this area, but is more often seen further south. There a lot of it growing on one wall, but this clump is sprouting from the wall beside the road.