Little cheerful things

Today has been a good day for a few nice little things happening so I am cheerful despite the rain.

My 'Rhiannon' streptocarpus which I recently repotted (possible danger in tampering with plants that like to be pot bound) has for the first time this year started to flower. I was a little worried as I thought my tinkering had finished it off especially because I have treated it to feeding tablets too.

When the flower stem unfurls there are usually several beautiful flowers on each stem (if I get them then I'll try some macro photography for the blog). This individual plant flowered frequently with multiple stems and a lot earlier last year, so there was a genuine cause for concern. They are a plant that is tolerant of a little abuse and they can be propagated easily so they make a good houseplant for me. There are many beautiful varieties and Dibleys nurseries specialise in streptocarpus. Of course its my vanity that makes me grow a plant that shares my name but I have to say it's the only plant that does, as far as I know, so that when I stumbled upon it a few years ago I had to have it.

Also today I collected a rake and hoe through the wonders of freecycle and a kind lady called Pauline. These will mean that we both can hoe and rake at the same time down at the patch that has to be cool.