Shirley Trevena's watercolour

This gorgeous painting is by the artist Shirley Trevena.
I first came across her name on a great blog have dogs will travel
who highly recommends Shirley Trevena's book Vibrant Watercolours
I've just had a look at Ms. Trevena's web site and I'm very impressed.
So much so that I'm off out tomorrow to see if I can get her book for myself.

Mystery Rhododendron

This is my mystery rhododendron in full flower.
It's absolutely beautiful, and adds a tropical element to the garden.
It's a mystery because I cant seem to find out what kind of rhododendron it is.
I even blogged about it when it was about to flower
Anyway I'm going to write into The Irish Garden magazine and ask their Garden know how section to identify it for me, now that its in blossom.


Spot the Spider
My rhododendron is hosting a Misumena vatia

Rhododendron

I bought this rhododendron at the end of last summer, in a half price closing down sale.
It's my bargain in the garden!
It's my pride and joy, and as you can see, it is literally bursting into flower. I've never seen one like it and I don't know the name of it. If anybody out there recognises it, please let me know. I have just tried googling it but there seem to be an endless amount of different kinds out there.
One thing I did learn was that the origins of the name are Greek, Rhodo meaning rose and Dendron meaning tree! Lovely.



The bark on the lower half is all cracked and falling off, should I be worried or is this just growing pains? Anybody, anybody?