An enjoyable weekend

The weekend started very well with the announcement in The Queen's Birthday Honours that Roy Lancaster (left, with Robert Vernon of Bluebell Nurseries) has been appointed CBE 'for services to horticulture and charity' - a truly well-deserved honour in recognition of a lifetime's devotion to the promotion of gardening and plantsmanship.

On Saturday afternoon I gatecrashed (with permission!) an open day for Carnivorous Plant Society members held by a friend of a friend, Stephen Morley. A diversity of colours of 'lids' in his Sarracenia collection.

The lure: nectar secreted around the rim of the lid of a Sarracenia pitcher attracts insects to the trap.

Sarracenia purpurea selections

Cephalotus follicularis 'Eden Black' - an Australian pitcher plant, totally unrelated to the Sarraceniaceae.

The difficult to grow Byblis gigantea, a sundew-relative from Western Australia.



Returning home on the A166 I was astonished to see a wide verge covered in orchids and managed to find a place to stop. They are a mixture of Dactylorhiza praetermissa (dark purple), D. fuchsii (light pink) and their hybrid D. x grandis.

A handsome group of Dactylorhiza x grandis. Sadly many plants in this colony have the disease Cladosporium orchidis, which causes leaf necrosis and untimely die-back. For more information see the Scottish Rock Garden Club website.

At home: Roscoea humeana 'Longacre Sunrise' has been at its best this weekend.

Anthemis 'Tinpenny Sparkle' is just getting going.

A view across the main border, with Linaria 'Peachy' in the foreground.

The garden at Terrington House was open for NGS today: the garden is blandly pleasant, but the Shell House (completed 2008) is a delight.

A detail of the shells used to create the patterns over the walls and ceiling - a tremendous piece of work by the Fenwick family.

Last but not least: a penultimate sample of asparagus from local producers at Sand Hutton near York (last picking next Saturday), with Sauce Hollandaise: but 5 Lady Amherst's Pheasant eggs obviously don't quite equal two hen eggs...