Strelitzia reginae

Today's the day ............... for something exotic

This is one of the flowers on my friend Roma's Bird of Paradise plant. Fantastic isn't it?! About seven years ago, I sent away for two of these plants on offer in a magazine I found in the doctor's surgery. I kept one of them for myself and gave the other to Roma. Now, while mine looks quite healthy, it only has lots of moderate-sized leaves. This one is enormous and has been flowering for the past three or four years. Roma has green fingers!

In fact, many years ago when our boys were quite young, Roma and I had a little business called Greenfingers. We established and looked after the planters in an office building in Aberdeen. It fitted in very well with having young children because we could do it in the evening when they were being looked after by the Dads. We didn't make much money doing it. We usually blew all the profits once a year by taking Will and John out for a slap-up meal in an expensive Aberdeen restaurant - our AGM as we used to call it!

Anyway - this being the last day of 2010 - may I wish you all a very happy and healthy New Year - but full of fun and exotic things too .........?!