Surprises

I love it when the garden surprises you.  You know when that plant you thought you'd killed off suddenly starts to sprout again. Like the bay tree I've  had growing quite well in a big pot for a few years, but which suffered badly in the cold of last winter. I cut it back as they said to do on Gardener's World, but still nothing happened until last week when I was thinking of throwing it out, but noticed 2 new leaves had appeared.  Or like last Sunday when I found all those potatoes in a bag I thought I'd emptied. Then there are the plants I've bought from plant sales, just to support a worthy cause and which I've not been able to identify, but which turn out to be real gems.


Well this is my latest surprise.  It's an Arum which a neighbour gave me about 3 years ago. It has interesting leaves from spring to summer, dark green and glossy with pale markings. For the last 2 years it has not done much but die back each summer. This summer it surprised me by flowering, which I thought was a very nice thing to do. I didn't know it would produce these berries too in the autumn. I planted it under a shrub because my neighbour said it grows in the shade. Nestling under the leaves of the shrub it brought a stunning splash of autumn colour.  It was a bit of a 'wow' surprise which greeted me over the garden gate. I like these sort of surprises.