Never Shop With a Partner!

Don't ever go to the nursery with a partner who has eaten a good lunch and now just wants to go home and put his feet up!! I made that mistake yesterday when OAP and I called in at the local nursery in the valley to buy a replacement shrub for the one that died during winter. While I was all gung ho to buy the place out, OAP clutched his wallet firmly to his chest and dragged around looking at the prices of the plants! You know, if its a piece of clothing I want he is dreadfully generous, encouraging me to buy whatever I want, but when it comes to plants he is not too keen. I suppose this is because most of them die while we are in SA and I have to buy new ones every year. Mostly he is keen for me to wander around with a pair of secateurs and a plastic bag secreted in my pocket and filch cuttings from every plant I like! Nevertheless we did manage to agree on two shrubs and four rockery plants. Can't remember the names except the shrubs were Potentilla something - one bright yellow and the other orange and the rockery plants included Gypsophila repens and lobelia.
Back home, having missed a huge thunderstorm, we happily planted the new members of our Swiss family and hopefully they will do well over the summer. But my absolute best is going with my sister to the nursery - this is when I need a credit card to get through the till point though!!

The alpine storm could be seen from the valley, 1km below. The peaks were enveloped in thick dark grey clouds and thunder rumbled and lightning flashed and it was very majestic and awe inspiring. We had a few drops of rain on the windshield as we drove up the steep winding road home but otherwise all the rain had fallen at about 1300 metres and above!