Little and large

Dull and damp - an indoor morning going through some old London pictures from 2017. It's more difficult having left it so long as I can't remember what buildings are what or what route I took. It means a lot more use of Google Lens, but I don't mind that. 

I had planned to visit the local hospital with my Keep Oban Beautiful colleague Sue, to have a look at the two courtyard gardens in some detail so that we could explain to the management what we intend to do to smarten them up. But not only was the forecast bad, but I was also taking MrsM down to the ferry as she's going to Mull for the weekend to stay with our daughter.

So we decided to go tomorrow afternoon instead, then changed to the morning as the afternoon was going to be very wet! So I took MrsM down to the ferry and came back to carry on with photographs.

I had intended to take a ferry Blip, but the rain was too heavy, so I came home. The rain stopped then, of course, so today's Blip is a close-up of the first flower this year on my little shrub Heimia salicifolia. This is a good example of saving a plant by giving it away. Many years ago I grew this plant from seed and gave a plant to my brother in London. My plant eventually died, but his thrived and flowered due to the hotter summers which ripen the growth. 

A couple of years ago I propagated from his plant and now have it growing in a pot. Not an ideal plant for a cool climate as non-ripened wood can more easily be killed by the frost. I have to protect mine over winter. My Blip today is of the first flower this season - it's a late summer to autumn flowering shrub. I've cheated a bit as the flowers are tiny - less than a centimeter, but it does look good blown up!