Stopped smoking

A wet day but no complaints, it has been rough out there for some folks.

One of the garden jobs that it is needing done is the planting of shrubs and I have been gathering some over the past few weeks. They are ready to go in now.

I saw a smoke bush in Yorkshire earlier this year. I tracked down an expert view of which variety would survive in more northern conditions. 'Grace' will do the job. The big chain garden centres are not very good when it comes to these particular requirements but I got the variety I needed from a specialist nursery in Perthshire. Long live the small nurseries.

At the moment its leaves are a glorious red. It doesn't start smoking until next summer. But I shall speak to it sternly.