[Alice]

The information about Vitex agnus-castus could prove very useful, Jorun. In early summer I was suffering from terribly itchy bites, which I am almost sure were from fleas from the cat (though I rarely saw any and the cat was treated regularly with the usual commercially available products).

[JTh]

Your flea bites could be from other sources than your cat, though, such as old bird's nests or rodent sites.

I don't  know how reliable this (http://www.infobarrel.com/Natural_Insect_Repellents) source is, but it may be worth trying: 'simply crush the fresh or dried leaves between your hands, and rub your hands on yourself, or pet your pets with your hands after crushing the leaves. By doing this daily, you will help keep fleas to a minimum.  Basil is also considered to be a good mosquito repellent, and the scent is of course nice.

[Alice]

Thanks, Jorun.
I will see what works.

[Umbrian]

On Wednesday my new Italian garden helper came to remove one of three large Laurus nobilis towering over the western end of my new garden ( although never happy to see mature trees done away with I had come to the conclusion that three was one too many - more about the felling in another post)
Between this tree and the house is the large Chimonanthus praecox that I have spoken about in previous postings. It's wonderful perfume fills the whole garden when in full flower but it had become very tall and misshapen due to its struggle for space and light. I wanted to release it from its prison and give it a new lease of life once the tree was removed I set about remedial pruning, removing one or two of the oldest stems completely and reducing the younger growth to encourage new growth lower down.  Being in the "Centro Storico "  - old town centre now and unable to have bonfires any more I had to load the resulting debris from the morning's work into my car and take it to the local tip where, by the way, there are excellent facilities for the disposal of all kinds of rubbish including garden waste that is recycled. This meant quite a few journeys as you can imagine and just before I could finish the job the rain came and I had to stop, leaving a full load in the car overnight. Thursday dawned bright and dry and my first thought was to get to the tip. On opening the door of the car the most wonderful scent hit me, the final load consisted mainly of the Chimonanthus prunings and I was amazed to realise that even the woody parts of this shrub exude perfume. Before dispensing with all of it I cut some pieces to put in a bowl in the house to see how long the scent lasts. Meanwhile I am enjoying driving about in my car that still smells so lovely