In the last couple of weeks I have bought a few gardening bits and bobs. I bid on a David Austin Catalogue on ebay from  seller  Matt  who is a really nice helpful seller   (he also has an Amazon shop) I never realised David Austin had such early catalogues (this one is 1980/81 season) and has lovely hand written notes by the previous owner.

I have wanted a Phlomis Italica

 for a long time, but have only been able to find them in a couple of places on the web, and very expensive with £10 postage.... Happily I found a blogger who runs a nursery, Steve  who had the plant in his inventory less than half price than the other places I found, and only charged minimal postage. If you are looking for some unusual plants, go to Steve, a lovely chap with some nice plants.
I have bought some more unusual veg seeds (for me that is) from another ebay seller  Premier Seeds Direct                who again has turned out be very nice and helpful and their seeds are all DEFRA registered.  I usually only grow runner and broad beans, but their selection of italian beans and tomatoes looked very scrumptious indeed! I bought Marvel of Venice, a beautiful bright yellow bean which will look very decorative in my potager ( I dont know whether they boil up yellow, I know most coloured beans usually turn to the normal green when cooked) Edit, have just received this from Kerrie and Bob - For Info yellow beans retain their colour fully when cooking, the purple and red varieties tend to bleach back towards green unless you steam them.Thanks Kerrie! 

Borlotti beans were the next I bought, a lovely mottled bean
 and a dwarf French Bean Berggold
        The tomatoes were Gartenperle a tumbling heirloom,    .

  and Red Pear a cherry bell,
 which I have just potted on. I sowed rather too many seeds and fear I do not have enough friends or relatives to share with!
I also bought an Italian Beetroot  Chioggia
  which has red/white striped inner - I only tasted my own fresh beetroot last year, and was amazed how lovely freshly cooked beetroot tasted. I normally had the run of the mill beetroot in a glass jar with salads - I will never again buy, because fresh is best! Thanks to Kerrie and Bob of Premier Seeds for letting me use their images except the beetroot which I googled from BackyardGardener
Flowering this week beginning 17th May in my garden
minature narcissus, muscari (still flowering!)
arabis, alyssum saxatile. lychnis alpina, iberis
various aquilegias,white,mauve and yellow flag iris
euphorbia,honesty,geranium phaeum,pink geranium macrorrhizum,geranium Johnsons blue, geranium wargrave pink, centaura montana, bleeding hearts, calendular,bluebells,lily of the valley,various clematis, veronica gentianodes, french lavender,feverfew,cerastium tomentosum(snow in summer),polemonium caeruleum(jacobs ladder) Hesperis matronalis (sweet rocket)
pink and white oxalis (the white is my own creation, well with help from the bees.The original pink one is from old Georgian houses that were being knocked down making the small lovely old town where I was born on the Thames into a concrete monstrosity in the 1960s , and me and my dear mum 40 years ago took our spades and rescued the oxalis and peonies that were growing, which I still have now in my garden)
lilac,rosemary,black viola,violets, wisteria,all my soft fruits, vinca major and minor,kerria,viburnum tinus, and fremontedendrom which has now about 20 large waxy blooms on a 3ft stem!


The wisteria is looking beautiful and I am looking forward to my first roses blooming, I think Madame Gregoire Stachelin will be first growing up a pergola with the wisteria, although  Desprez a Fleur Jaune a beautiful climbing noisette,supposedly a little tender although not seemingly in my garden, which I bought a few years ago and moved in the autumn from under one of the cherry trees to the south wall, may just pip Madame to the post!