More May Flowers

From the garden, more dead plants to cull from the plant spreadsheet.

• armeria juniperifolia, sea pinks
• a Pink Azalea

Current Blooms:

 Clematis, 'Nellie Moser'

 Lilly of the Vally, all over the place.

Dianthus subacaulis

Erigeron linarfolia This one from Wrightman Alpines in New Brunswick Canada. Purchased it at the 2014 Alpine Plant Sale at Stonecrop Gardens, just about 1.5 hours from out little patch of heaven, a nice garden to visit and the drive isn't too bad.

Estate Staff Update:
Gina earned her wages today, getting us home from the beach with as few shifts as possible. Our first inkling that something was amiss was Gina rolling through a stop sign, it's not in her nature to break the law, fragrantly anyway. She took local roads and managed with her newly acquired local knowledge (she has a vast map collection) to cover the 6 miles stopping only 3 times, at stoplights. We decided against keeping track of the traffic violations she accrued, but if she triggered any traffic cameras we'll just deduct it from her pay. Her guess is that either the clutch master or slave cylinder of the Land Rover needs to be rebuilt. She said she will look to see if there are any adjustment first and asked to borrow the repair manuals.

Have a lead on a Gamekeeper, goes by the name Duncan MacLoughty and comes along with this little summer cottage in Scotland. A bargain at 1,350,000 GBP. The floor plan is not the best, but we'd only be there for a few weeks at the start of Grouse season. Check it out here, while it lasts.

I believe he is a member of the Scottish Gamekeepers Association and The National Gamekeepers Organization and has given a bob or two to the  Gamekeepers Welfare Trust . Gamekeepers maintain the properties of an estate, the fields, woods and hedgerows and they keep down the populations of pests of all kinds, the first Gamekeepers would have dealt with poachers(aka Pests) in the Royal Hunting Forests. They participate in muirburning to promote biodiversity, but no longer officially hunt down poachers with their bull-mastiffs.

Some further reading on the Muirburn (Scotland) or heather burning (England) here, at The Heather Trust.