The photo isn’t the greatest ever but it demonstrates something I tell my children all of the time… you can NEVER know everything or be unable to improve what you do.

I’ve been a keen gardener for more than 30 years and have always pondered on the mystery of not being able to make my smoke bushes smoke. I’ve grown several in different locations and none have ever given those gorgeous smoky plumes that I see on Cotinus Coggygria elsewhere. The one in this garden, planted long before I cared about it, is a glorious red specimen but in the two and a half years since we arrived here it’s not flowered until this year. I know, I know, it’s just not possible is it? Two and a half years? Shocking!

Still, it’s revealed its requirements for flowering this year due to my laziness – I didn’t prune it in the spring and it seems that it flowers on last year’s wood. Ha. Mystery solved and I’ve learned something. I could have got a better shot with my 5d but I took the pic early in the morning when I was preparing sandwiches and breakfasts before scooting off to work.