Flowers in the Rain at Topsham
If it hadn't been for the rain you wouldn't be admiring this image of a glistening, tear-dropped red rose which I found in one of Topsham's secret gardens yesterday. Or its diamond-clustered deeply blushing pink near-neighbour. Or yet another image of the same one which I didn't have the heart to cut out. Just showing off really. And gardening expert Veitch enthusiast Caradoc Doy wouldn't have been able to demonstrate how if you rub the soaking flowers of this magnificent ceanothus between your hands it'll be almost exactly as if you were holding a bar of soap. The foam that comes from this novel form of hand-washing is caused by the saponin contained in the plant, a substance found in many other specimens of the secret world of plants. It's true - I checked it out and found http://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/education-news/gardening-kee...