I am catching up this week with what I have been up to, which is why I have been quiet for a while. So, like buses, there have been no posts for a few weeks, then two come along at once!
In my second garden visit post this week, I am in Sheffield. Something you may or may not know about me – I absolutely love snooker. I can’t play it as my eye/hand co-ordination is scarily poor, but I love to watch it. One of the highlights of my year is my annual trip to the Crucible to watch a session or two of the World Championship, which takes place at the end of April.
The BBC takes over the Winter Gardens, setting up a studio where Hazel Irvine chats to popular former champions like Steve Davis and John Parrott. I always take a walk through there, craning my head like everyone else to see who is there. I try to be discreet about it, but I confess to being almost as excited as the lady who squeaked (possibly a little louder than she had realised) “Eek! It’s Stephen Hendry!”, causing the great man to turn and look just as Hazel asked him a question. He was not impressed…
I don’t usually notice the plants in the garden but, after my trip to Edinburgh Botanic Gardens, where I really wished I had visited the glasshouses, I found myself paying closer attention to the greenery in the Sheffield Winter Gardens this year. Huge prehistoric-looking succulents tower over the smaller, more colourful plants and draw the eye upwards to the stunning arched roof. I have never really been interested in succulents before but I loved the mix of shape and texture in the display here and felt I had to share it with you.
Next week I will be safely back in our own garden – I have lots to show you and I’m sure the cats will be keen to say hello as well – it’s been a while and our little ones are almost grown up!
New Simple Life 
That first palm (in the first picture) looks like a Brahea armata, although it is more likely a Bismarkia nobilis. Brahea armata would not be happy in a conservatory setting, but really wants warm and dry weather. Besides, it was not exactly one of the rare palms that was likely to get a bit of limited space where more unusual species would be preferred. (I happen to like Brahea armata, but it grows out in the garden here.)
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