Chelsea Physic Garden

On Saturday my sister-in-law and I had an early start, catching the train to London Euston, in order to be at the Chelsea Physic Garden for around 10 a.m. We decided to get a taxi from the station, and were treated to a guided tour through Regents Park and along the Kings Road. The sun was shining and London looked beautiful. We had made the journey to attend the Winter Meeting of the Mediterranean Plants and Gardens Organisation. The day started with a chance to admire the snowdrops, which are apparently early this year, morning coffee and a little gentle mingling with other members. It was the first time Pam and I had attended a meeting and we were made very welcome. After a few remarks from Heather Martin, John Fielding spoke about the events from last year and his presentation was accompanied by some very interesting and beautiful slides. The main event, however, was a talk on Eastern Mediterranean Bulbs. Many of the featured plants grow on Crete and the photo above shows Oron talking about Crocus boryi - one of the beautiful autumn flowering bulbs we all look forward to once the winter rains have started. Oron Peri is an expert plantsman, writer and photographer from Israel and his talk was interesting, amusing and informative. After a rather chaotic lunch, Oron talked on growing and caring for bulbs and the section on growing bulbs from seed was most interesting. All in all, a lovely, satisfying day, especially as I had acquired a copy of Oron's new book, Bulbs of the Eastern Mediterranean, which, of course, I had signed! Picture of Crocus boryi I took just before I left for the UK