Name this plant...

Name this plant..., a photo by Craig Richardson on Flickr.

Okay, bonus points for anyone who can name this plant.... Its a shrub with some rather distinctive flowers. Any suggestions?

Update: Thanks to everyone on Facebook and Flickr who have identified it as Dicentra spectabilis (Bleeding Hearts). Seems obvious now I know!  :-)

First Crop of the year!

First Crop of the year!, a photo by Craig Richardson on Flickr.

Maybe its because the cover of one of my gardening books has radishes on the front of it, or maybe its because they're bright pink (William's favourite colour) but it just feels kind of appropriate that the first crop of the year has been some delicious radishes. These are some of the ones we had in a pot in the greenhouse - the ones in the raised bed are taking a bit longer, but then they are dealing with the disgusting weather we're having at the moment - I'm just surprised they haven't drowned!

[About the photo - window light and a bit of white card as a background. About as simple as it gets really]

Herbs...

Chives, a photo by Craig Richardson on Flickr.

Anyone know any good recipes that use coriander?!

The chives are doing nicely - after commenting to my mum that hers were budding, I came home to find mine were as well!

The parsley has gone ballistic, the basil is getting there, but I really need to find some recipes to involving coriander as I have way too much of the stuff!

Univited guests - Sticky Weed

Sticky Weed, a photo by Craig Richardson on Flickr.

This is Galium Aparine - or to give it its more common name - Sticky Weed. Or indeed, as William calls it - just plain WEED! Shouted loudly whenever he spots it in the garden after I introduced him to it last year. And by introduced it, I of course mean pulling some up and sticking it to his back when he wasn't looking...

It may have been used to stuff mattresses in medieval times, it may be used in a tea to promote weight loss and soothe irritations of the urinary tract, but I'm still pulling the blasted stuff up as soon as I spot it to try and get it under control...

[About the photo - another macro shot with the 105mm, hand held at f/5.6. May reshoot this against a better background - I needed more depth of field on the plant but kept getting unwanted background detail...]