Compared with recent years, it has been a cold winter. Warmer weather and rain in late January left the land very wet, then February brought the heaviest snowfall for twelve years. From mid Febraury the weather became much warmer and we sowed seeds indoors for the new delphiniums to be grown in our garden this year. March continued with mild weather and quite a lot of sunshine although it often felt rather cold when working outside due to many days with strong winds. There are now many spring flowers to enjoy, like the daffodils and camellias shown above. Delphinium plants in the borders have started to grow quickly. It has been interesting to see that the plant of D. trollifolium, an America wild delphinium found last year in the middle of a plant of delphinium 'Royal Flush' survived and reappeared before the host started into growth.

It has been fascinating to watch Agricultural Contractors cultivating the adjacent fields. It was very impressive to see spring barley being sown using a seed drill combined with a power cultivator that made it possible to sow a rough ploughed field in a single pass operation, as seen in the background picture. It was equally amazing to watch a powerful Claas Xerion tractor ploughing the land to the east using a very large 8 furrow plough with elaborate hydraulic controls.

OUR BOOK

"Delphiniums" by David and Shirley Bassett

ISBN (13digit) 9780713490022

was published in the UK in November 2006 by Batsford, an imprint of Anova Books Company Ltd.

It can be ordered direct from the publisher at their website: www.anovabooks.com

In North America the book is published by Timber Press and can be ordered from their website: www.timberpress.com

Alternatively, try other booksellers, eg Amazon