[Joanna Savage]

Hello Alisdair, i enjoyed seeing the MGS pomegranates this morning but am also wondering what is the blue flowered plant in the pots. It looks to be an interesting subject to be so showy at this time of year. Thanks Joanna

[John J]

Joanna, I'm sure Alisdair will correct me if I'm wrong but they look to me like Ruellia simplex. Used to be known as Ruellia brittoniana, a name I preferred as I remembered it by using a trick told to me by our very own Fleur who called it Rule Brittania.

[Alisdair]

Thanks John, for jumping in with that. Joanna, Peter Schaar from Texas who later commented on the picture (saying he thought it was the Ruellia) said it's common there in pots. And it must be so popular there that apparently in the States it's sometimes called "Texas Petunia" - even though it actually comes from Mexico and further South.

[Joanna Savage]

Thank you for that information?I see that Rule Britannia is included in the MGS Seed List. My requests for 2016 have been lodged, so it will go at the head of my 2017 list.

[Joanna Savage]

My next question about Alisdair's FB page from Sparoza this morning? It is a cheerful view of the garden, very different from the drenching we are experiencing. But I am wondering what the tree is. A lovely cascading light form, could it be Casuarina or Acacia? Thanks Joanna

[John J]

I hope Alisdair will excuse me for jumping in again, Joanna, but I think the 'foliage' you are seeing to the right of the photo is not from the tree but from a shrub to the side of it that looks like a Retama raetam.

[Joanna Savage]

Thanks John, now I see the Retama. Glad to say that Ilanted one  last week.

[Alisdair]

John, Thanks for answering Joanna about the Retama.
While I was away I was depriving myself of the Forum. This was because I was rationing my mobile internet very strictly to just emails and updating the Facebook page, as the mobile firms are getting around the EU's excellent control on internet data roaming charges (now restricted to 4.4p per MB, and soon to go completely) by setting a 750MB per month "normal" roaming usage limit. Anything above that and the consumer is deemed to be taking unfair advantage of the mobile company, so the charge per MB jumps to a shocking £1.07. In just the 12 days I was away, and just dealing with the Facebook and (very curtly) emails, I totted up 541MB. So only a few days more and I'd have been paying through the nose.