Good morning and I hope you’re well. Tomorrow, Monday, sees the start of National Gardening week an RHS initiative to help everyone grow at home both indoors and out. They want us to post a picture or video using the hashtag #NationalGardeningWeek of a flower/plant or garden that reminds us of a loved one we’re missing during lock down. I think my flower has definitely got to be the Forget me Not (Mysotis or mouse’s ear) which grows rampantly at this time of year. The Flower is a beautiful shade of blue and reminds me of all my family and friends that I’m unable to see, co-incidentally it’s used in Germany to commemorate the fallen soldiers of the world wars, similar to our use of the poppy. On Friday I held a zoom session on propagating herbs for the window sill and regrowing vegetables to create an indoor garden - in exchange I learned about making fertiliser from old vegetable peelings and which supermarket has the best offers on compost at the moment - it’s Morrisons and Sainsburys. In the afternoon I watched Caroline Marshall Foster, Editor of The Florist be interviewed by Flower Circus a Dutch organisation. The interview was a fascinating insight into the state of the floristry industry now and their future projections for the industry. It’s still available to watch on Facebook and probably the most uplifting hour I’ve spent in the past few weeks. I then watched Simon Lycett live on Instagram running one of his daily gardening sessions he really is a joy. Inspired by Simon I finally finished planting up the trough outside the shop with herbs which people will be able to take cuttings from in the fullness of time. Happy Gardening and stay safe. Ursula