Tall spikes of bright purple flowers above heart shaped leaves that have a pink and white margin around a green centre. At the bottom is the Wisley plant label identifying the plant as Lunaria annua Somerset Marbled planted in 2025

A close up of the purple flowers and pink edged foliage.

🌱 #flowersonFriday
Good to have Bluesky back behaving itself so I can show you this stunning “Honesty”. It is growing in the car park side of the Old Lab at Wisley.

Jay Shetty “Daily Calm” often annoys me with its vacuous homilies but the fact he outright misquotes and entirely misunderstands Robert Frost’s The Road Not Taken confirms to me that he is just a shallow grifter.

Violinists show off their culinary skills in Great British Menuhin

How do humanists find meaning in life? Humanists believe that life's meaning is not given to us, but that human beings can create meaning and happiness themselves. Humanists find purpose in relationships, creativity, helping others, and making a positive impact on the world around us. Each person's path is different. Humanists support everyone#s right to think for themselves and shape their own life.

If you have baby figs on your tree congratulations - you'll have a crop of ripe fruit this year (as long as there's no late frost) 💚 figs in the UK rely on embryonic fruits formed late the previous year to overwinter, so don't remove them if you're pruning #gardening 🌱

Tax negative externalities, subsidise positive externalities … this should be fundamental government economic management

Identification guide for very young readers. 7 budding twigs stand in a blue vase. The twigs include Willow, Beech and Hazel.

“Seven sorts of tree buds”

Treasure magazine, 1965

I hope you haven’t accidentally stumbled into a body swap comedy and you are now The Sunday Boy

Keep your haikus safe
Minimise the number of
Spillables per line

I’m disappointed by the ending. I was hoping they’d escape over the mountains to Switzerland.

You should get extra points for spotting the rainbow feint, playing it first anyway and then solving the puzzle

Connections
Puzzle #1027
🟨🟪🟩🟦
🟨🟨🟨🟨
🟩🟩🟩🟩
🟪🟪🟪🟪
🟦🟦🟦🟦

Picture of Himalayan Orchids in flower - pink petals with red and yellow bearded lower section

In other news, we have Himalayan Orchids for sale in our NHS-run walled garden in Doncaster

Great to see so many of our Amelanchier all in flower at once #BlossomWatch

🌱 #Gardening #UKGardening #FlowerFeed #BloomScrolling

You have created a new poetic form there

The seeds of cultural and social success: Research from University of Northampton academic reveal the benefits of allotment gardening over time The findings, from Lecturer in Positive Psychology Rhys Furlong and colleagues, show the value of allotment gardening over time within low-income areas.

The findings, from Lecturer in Positive Psychology Rhys Furlong and colleagues, show the value of allotment gardening over time within low-income areas.
www.northantstelegraph.co.uk/your-world/t...

People gather in a street with a tree covered in pink cherry blossoms. 'Cherry blossom holiday in the main street of the Yoshiwara' by Utagawa Hiroshige, ca. 1839.

In Japan, festivals to celebrate the appearance of sakura (cherry blossoms) occur in spring and are known as hanami. Sakura were a favourite subject of Japanese woodblock prints so I thought I'd put together a virtual hanami (flower viewing) thread for #FolkyFriday today. Please enjoy.
1/5

Definitely worth a trip :)

Had a great day creating natural log piles to improve our biodiversity in the gardens, creating habitats for all kinds of wildlife.

Logs are simply stacked, and soil piled around them to hold them in place and create soil pockets for planting.

🌱 #Gardening #UKGardening #Biodiversity

Never been before - been going for 50+ years, an amazing collection of new and second hand books over 3 well-stuffed floors

Inside first floor of bookshop

Curved mirror in bookshop

Window looking out of bookshop

Bookshop from outside

Remarkable Scarthin Books, inside and out #cromford

Canal at Whaley Bridge

Canal west of Bugsworth Basin

Bugsworth Basin

View from Buxworth east to the low hills of the Dark Peak

Buxworth, Bugsworth Basin & Whaley Bridge on a sunny spring morning #canal

Tough on Waitrose, tough on the causes of Waitrose (but do check out their essentials range when you are there getting your Manuka honey since it’s really great value for money)

100% agree. Their “fashion” coverage is a pure unquestioning consumption push (sometimes disguised as ‘how to save money and look good’ = by buying more things)

From Beauty to Power: Why Plants Matter More Than Ever YouTube video by Ben Goldsborough MP for South Norfolk

Plants are no longer just about beauty. They are about growth, climate action, and our future.

At Spring Plants in Parliament, I spoke about why horticulture is at a turning point and how we can unlock its full potential for the UK 🌱

youtu.be/bZ9qhrnZz4w

The early stroll devotees expectantly await their morning McMillan aperçu

I have never discovered this … thank you!

The Jedi in the Van

That is extraordinarily evocative! Haven’t seen it for decades but it’s vividly recalled as soon as I saw it just now. It was fascinating and frightening in equal measure

Hoist by my own petard this morning … ring the bell (once) and the bus goes straight past my stop.

Notice on bus headlined “Give us a ding, ding!” And text then starts “Ring the bell once as we approach your bus stop …”

Great headline for their “ring the bell once” message #stagecoach