And now for something different.

Our interest was pricked when watching a TV gardening programme a while ago. Someone mentioned that they had grown a Japanese Wineberry and had commented on how delicious the berries were and how prolific the plant was. We quite like growing fruits that are a bit different and so we decided to look out for one and recently found one on the Victoriana Nursery Gardens website.

Regular visitors to this blog will also know that last year our early excitement when our kiwis produced flowers turned to disappointment when we didn't get a single fruit. We think the problem was that only the male or the female plant flowered (not sure which is which) so the flowers weren't pollinated. Anyway there sitting in the same section as the wineberry was a self fertile kiwi plant called Issai. This is supposed to bear a large crop of small smooth skinned kiwis so that was added to our list. Unfortunately it won't pollinate our other kiwis so the only hope for fruit from those is if the male and female plants get their act together!

Martyn noticed that Victoriana also sold nut trees and so fancied trying a cobnut as well and who am I to say no so a Webbs Prize Cobnut tree was added to the list. We already have a couple of hazel bushes on the plot but they only produce nuts fit for the squirrels. They originally were contorted hazels that have lost their contortions and so were produced for decorative rather than productive purposes. Must admit I never really found the tangle of stems to be attractive which is why the bushes ended up on the plot. The RHS also reckon that cobnuts are a good source of nectar for bees so we will be doing a bit to help them too.

This week the plants arrived but will be potted up and left in our cold greenhouse until the conditions improve - this has worked well with fruit trees and bushes in the past. The photo album shows how the plants arrived - they were well packaged and the plants looked in good condition so I guess it is now up to us to look after them. I'll keep you posted.

Victoriana Nurseries are offering a 10% discount to anyone ordering from them using any of their links on any of our blogs or websites.

I also have to admit that I acted completely out of character when I visited the supermarket this week. Out of character as I don't usually impulse but - well not from a supermarket anyway! There sitting flaunting its flowers was a hellebore niger. It looked beuatiful and as I had considered buying one before i didn't consider it to be a total impulse. I know it is maybe further on than it naturally would be but if I keep it in the cold greenhouse for a while I hope it will be fairly happy until I can plant it out. I'm not sure whether it will go in the new bed at the front of the house (I've already ordered a batch of plants for there which I'll write about later) or for the shady area under the crab apple (I've ordered some plants for there too but no sign of finding a statue yet). I'm leaning towards the shady area at the moment - what do you think?