Blackcurrant Sage and Grapefruit Mint.

          The single curse of becoming part of Hyde Hall is that a garden's magic can be lost with familiarity. One small and very special place in which this will never happen is the Herb Garden, due to its completely fantastical plants which appear to have wandered out of the pages of a Roald Dahl book and into reality.

These plants include:
-Strawberry Mint
-Grapefruit Mint
-Black Peppermint
-Basil Mint
-Blackcurrant Sage
-Orange-scented Thyme
-Lemon Variegated Thyme

...and yes, they really do smell like their names suggest! The Strawberry Mint is particularly eyebrow-raising.

International Garden Photographer of the Year.

       Mateusz Liberra, 'Evening Lupin Fields'.

Having hurried past the exhibition in Hyde Hall's little barn day after day, I am so pleased to have finally opened the door and taken a look at the fabulous images from the International Garden Photographer of the Year Competition.

It would rather be stating the obvious to say how good the pictures are, having already been judged as finalists or indeed winners, but I just had to share the one above. Photographed by Pole Mateusz Liberra, this mesmerising lupin meadow belongs to the landscape of Skaftafell National Park, in South-East Iceland.
I will not say much about it - such a view seems to compel silent admiration, rather than my usual long sentences! I had not the faintest notion that wild lupins grew in such a way. Were it not for the mountains in the background, it would be hard to suppose where the blue would cease.

(All credit to Mr Liberra and the International Garden Photographer of the Year Competition, which is well worth a look.)