We know the fish are feeding hence near the surface but the barley straw may be working in the pond. It’s been two weeks and we can see a little bit of difference as you could only see the tips of the fishes mouths before. We will keep you posted!

Big thanks to our good friend Wlad (US7IGN) in Kyiv, Ukraine for the excellent picture of one big palm tree in the glasshouse of one of the two botanical gardens there. Wlad was saying his good friend Sergiy UT3UFD (whose banana plant we’ve featured here and here) loves going there and Wlad said the thing that he personally likes when he’s also there are the tall palm trees as they are “Perfect antenna masts” brilliant Wlad! Links to both botanical gardens here and here.

Great to hear from Gerry Hectic who sent a recent pic of his pond. He was saying the water levels have gotten a little low and weeds have seemed to taken over but “I thought I’d just heard a frog croak!” Great stuff on that Gerry!

We also heard from Rich R again from the Lake District who showed us his great garden with breathtaking views at the end of March here. The picture above which locals call fox and cubs are all over his garden. He was saying the flower which is in the family Asteraceae is native to alpine regions of central and southern Europe. There is a theory that they may have been brought over by the romans alongside other plants including some fig trees in the area that are very old now. His garden is next to a roman road and about 15 miles from the west end of Hadrians Wall. Who knows but it’s interesting stuff!

Well it’s the longest day today so happy solstice to one and all and thanks to our mates all over for sending us some great pictures. We are always interested in plant and gardening related pics so do send them over!