This is one of my favourite springtime plants but I have difficulty remembering its name -Buglossoides purpurocaerulea. It was given to me by my parents some years ago- they split a plant that was in their garden. They had acquired a piece from my Dad's cousin in Somerset. I do like the way plants can be split and passed around the family. I have also given pieces of it to my friends. It flowers for several weeks in the spring and happily spreads itself about the garden. The blue of the flowers is extremely vivid, almost like a gentian and before the flowers open they are purple in colour.


This weigela has flowered exceptionally well this year. In the autumn we took out a rather large cotton lavender that had gone past its best and had tended to smother it. The weigela has definitely benefited from a bit more space.