Kitty, thanks so much for your comments about Clare's work. It's all done with an electronic stylus and special software, which takes some practice to master, and which she did long ago. Of course, the little cat doll, which was a birthday present to me, was hand painted.....About our magnolia--I wish I could be more positive, but we are the wrong climate for this tree/shrub. The blooms always manage to get some frost damage, which produces brown petal edges and discolors the pink. Then when our heat arrives, the blooms fall apart, and the least breeze has them dropping all over the place. I doubt if the blooms this year last a week. Brunnera, or heart leaf, or Siberian bugloss, or false forget me not (lots of different names there), blooms for a long time starting in mid spring with masses of forgot me not like flowers. The leaves grow large and heart shaped as the season progresses. It's indestructible. Mine was a passalong plant that has slowly spread into large pretty patches in two flower beds, and is the original basic Brunnera. There are frosted leaf types, one being Jack Frost, which have a frosted coloration on the leaves. Our temps will be dropping to the 60s-70s in several days. That's true spring for me.
Trish, I often rely on the dictionary of pronunciation at the back of Fine Gardening magazine to get an idea of how to say tricky plant names. Hewk' ker a is correct. Accent on the first syllable. Brunn' er a and Clem' a tis also have first syllable accents, which aren't intuitive for me. So did you stir your stumps? I love those Australianisms. And did you have a nice Anzac Day? I set up my mini sprinkler system in the flower beds and found a couple of minor problems, but was able to begin irrigation officially today. I also sprinkled myself and got wet twice, which elderly people don't like. Tomorrow is more of the same, and some clean up and, yes! pruning. I'm itching to plant snaps, penstemon, campanula, rosemary, and a few others. We'll pick up the hot peppers and cuke plants in a few days. And my Rouge Royale. Tomato plants are looking good and need to be planted. The Double Easy Orange is doing fine in the ground. It was a small bareroot with fairly thin canes, but I don't anticipate problems. Finn got his second vole (that I know of) a couple of days ago. I want him to keep up the vole patrol. He loves it.
Good luck with your balcony--what fun. Our hops grow up special lines to my daughter's balcony, and this hot weather has really got the hops a going. Diane
Brunnera
Hops for privacy, not beer making. Birds love to hang out in it.
Q
Lady of Shallot
Q