Weekly Chat (Non-Osprey), 20 March 2022

Good Morning. Good to know that all is well after your op Annette - & you can cope with the endless eye drops. My OH was hopeless and I had to do them for him! I'm looking forward now to having mine done as I'm A Lady in Waiting, with my cataracts not bad enough yet to go on the waiting list.

Pat, thanks for your description of your trip to Hever, which sounded delightful.

Harelady - Sorry you've got to wait to eat properly. It must be frustrating. I hope you'll soon see improvement. You can pray away for us Heathens - fine with me! You really shouldn't apologise for your faith. We each have our own and it's unique to us all. I hope it comforts you when you need it. Goodness knows the world needs something to improve it, these days.

The magnolia had a label and I must find it. We have to take labels off plants as Bonnie has a habit of eating them! I do know that it's not what I was sold, as it was described as "pure white with a beautiful streak of rosy red inside each cup" and its nothing of the kind, it's totally white! Still beautiful, though. EDIT: We planted it in a pot so that we could move it around - where we 1st put it, near the house, it was rather windblown, though, so now it's in a more sheltered part of the garden. Annette - No, it lives outside all the time and thankfully we rarely get bad frosts here.

OG Sorry you had a dud lunch. What a shame when you must have been looking forward to it.

Hello all
I'm sorry about the Caesar salad OG. It brought back memories of when I ordered one in California. It came in a dish about the size of a small dishwashing bowl ! I do construct my own, sometimes, with a bought dressing and home made croutons.
Yes, the Danes like driving. Unfortunately there is no longer a ferry from the West coast of Jutland to the UK and they like to stock up on favourite foods etc while here. It's quite a short drive from where they live to Jutland, the Western part of Denmark which has a land border with Germany. In fact, the southern part of Jutland ( Schleswig holstein) has changed hands a few times over the years. So it's about a seven hour drive to Amsterdam. I've done it a few times with them.. The DFDS ferry overnight to Newcastle leaves at 5 pm and is a bit like a mini cruise. An en suite cabin and restaurant, etc. After that,disembark at 10am and maybe six hours drive to get here. Lunch somewhere on the way.

Haven't caught up with your news after our return from our favourite hotel in Pitlochry this week. We drove to Kirriemuir (birthplace of J M Barrie) and then returned to Dunkeld and Loch of the Lowes where we saw the osprey nest from a distance but unfortunately the visitor centre was closed due to Covid illness. We have booked again for the end of April so hope for better luck next time.

What a shame, dibnlib. I noticed on the threads & FBook that LotL had closed temporarily. Still, I expect you enjoyed your break.

dibnlib and others that may be interested - 2 minutes drive from me  is the small  but very popular village of Thorpeness - see link to read about the J M Barrie link

https://www.suffolk-secrets.co.uk/blog/2015/07/the-fascinating-story-thorpeness

This is probably your magnolia, Linda: en.wikipedia.org/.../Magnolia_stellata. I hope we will have one within the year--I have long wanted one; they are gorgeous.  This article says they vary from pure white to pink and may have differing colours in different years--not quite sure how much a single plant will vary through time, but further investigation might tell us.  Common name is often Star Magnolia.

Thanks Gardenbirder: I do know about the Stellata Magnolia, however, as we have a much bigger one of those - here it is with our neighbours ginormous and stunning pink magnolia, behind it:

(Tap on it to see a better view)

Its just coming out, now, and is one of my favourite things in the garden. 

Crossed posts, sorry, I added a bit more to mine while you were posting! One site says they can grow very tall, this one says a bit shorter--possibly different varieties grow to different ultimate heights.

Compare with the flowers of my smaller one in the tub, which has cups for flowers: