<a href="http://pigyard.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/jostaberrymar16.jpg" rel="attachment wp-att-3249"><img class="alignright size-medium wp-image-3249" src="http://pigyard.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/jostaberrymar16-225x300.jpg" alt="jostaberry(mar16)" width="225" height="300" /></a>My post yesterday was written before our college friends Susie and Jon visited for lunch. Jon copied one of my essays that I'd worked on all night and he managed to get a better grade than me but as friends we found it funny. We were close friends at college and after 47 years our understanding of each other hasn't been lost. They have had their own difficulties recently so we spent much of the day talking through our life challenges. It was good to talk in a safe environment.

Today I spent the morning helping the local amateur dramatic group to take control of their website. This afternoon I managed to get out into the garden and plant a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jostaberry" target="_blank">Jostaberry</a> given to me by Susie and Jon. It is a cross between a gooseberry and blackcurrant. Jon tells me that the berries are not good to eat but make a delicious jam. I think in all likelihood the birds will feast on the fruits before I make jam.

<a href="http://pigyard.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/small-blue-flowermar16.jpg" rel="attachment wp-att-3247"><img class="size-thumbnail wp-image-3247 alignleft" src="http://pigyard.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/small-blue-flowermar16-150x200.jpg" alt="small-blue-flower(mar16)" width="150" height="200" /></a>These pretty blue flowers, I don't think they are bluebells, but are similar and they grow under the trees amongst the leaf litter and fallen twigs. It was lovely to come across them behind the large horse-chestnut in the south-east corner of the plot.

There are bluebells coming through close by and they will make a lovely show in a few weeks.

<a href="http://pigyard.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/small-raised-bed-plantedma.jpg" rel="attachment wp-att-3248"><img class="alignright size-medium wp-image-3248" src="http://pigyard.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/small-raised-bed-plantedma-300x225.jpg" alt="small-raised-bed-planted(ma" width="300" height="225" /></a>At last I've planted out the small raised bed with plants I bought from Lidl. They are supposed to be blues and yellows so it will be interesting to see how they develop. If I've got the wrong heights in the wrong place then I can shift them about later. (Yellows - Helenium; Oenothera; Gaillardia; Coreopsis; Achillea; Sedum; Blues - Salvia; Nepeta; Delphinium; Polemonium; Veronica; Campanula)

I finished in the late afternoon with a walk round the garden, through the trees, and seeing all these wonderful flowers coming into bloom, planted by Jane. She would have gotten so much more out of seeing things in flower than I ever will; she got so much more out of life than I do, I wish I could have swapped places. Sorry to finish on a downer but that's the way it goes.