Impulse buys

Where other women buy jewellery I buy plants. Yesterday we popped into Pugh's garden centre, ostensibly for some greenhouse clips. We had spent the morning tracking down horticultural glass - the price varied from £4.00 per pane to £7.70 which is a huge difference when you need 14 of them. Nearly everyone was out of stock for the quantity we required but we found a glaziers who cut to size whilst we waited. We took the opportunity to sneak to a cafe and have a coffee which was nice. O
Having picked up the glass we got home to discover we didn't have enough of the slips to put more than a few panes in. Because it's a super dooper greenhouse the clips aren't available in our local DIY store or garden centres so Luke has ordered them off the internet. We are tantalisingly close now to completing the thing. We have three sides in but no glass in the door or at the back. Luke even had a go at cutting the broken pane so we could use it in the side panels which worked a treat. Of course, we can't fit them yet due to the lack of clips. Frustrating. Sooo close! I was delighted to think that Socks had realised it wasn't an undercover litter tray but no sooner was I telling the blog that than I spied her scratching away again. Argh!

Well, once we had got the glass and bought some alternative clips which we were assured would work just as well (they didn't) we nipped into the plant side and I suddenly came face to face with some of my favourites from the last garden. Chocolate Cosmos and Scabiosa, 'Chilli Black'.
The Chocolate Cosmos is so called because it does really smell of chocolate. You have to bury your nose in the flower but it still has that unmistakable odour. The Scabiosa luckily doesn't smell like chillies taste but it is a lovely pitch black colour. Each flower head sits atop a long stem and looks for all the world like a pincushion.
These two will work well in my black and white garden.

Last night I finally moved the foxglove which had turned out pink instead of the Albino it was sold to me as. It is now in the border and will probably flourish there as it's shadier. I really need to work that border but it is a network of roots right now, like the London underground map - all a tangle. However I have learnt from my impatience with the monocrhome bed. I was desperate to get some colour and structure in the garden when I did that and didn't prepare the soil as best as I could. This time I am going to wait, prepare it properly and plan it out - at least that's my intention (until some gorgeous plant seduces me into buying it).

After that garden centre we went to B & Q (no sightings of famous people this time) where I was reminded of my grandparents house with their Coleus Red Velvet - a garish dark red plant they used to have in the house. I'm going to put mine in the border - it will only last for the season but is a handy space filler (not that I have much space in the border).
Before I knew it we had notched up three separate plant purchases and had bought an Aglai Leucanthemum, commonly know as the Shasta Daisy. It looks like a shaggy-petalled daisy and is such a cheerful addition.

This morning we popped to the local garden centre where I bought an Echinacea White Star - this was a sort of halfway house to tie up the Shasta Daisy and Scabiosa. The Echinacea is another white petalled daisy but with a cone shaped centre which is similar to the pin cushion effect of the Scabiosa. Before they come into flower their cone centres are a lovely lime green and the contrast with the blacks and whites really works well. All the purchases are planted up and given a good soak to help them on their way.