This one is young, so about 7” tall. I have others slightly taller, but they can go to 4ft. I showed this photo, because it’s a beautiful red colour and pretty rare.
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A 4 foot pitcher? I didn’t realise they could grow that big. That’s wonderful.
It’s a very good photo, they look out of this world, alien.
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The verbascum olympicums are flowering now - about twenty of them in total on the Green and this is the tallest - about 8 feet high. Ideally it would be in the middle of the wildflower patch rather than to the side as the leaves are rather ugly. Impressive stature though.
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To be fair, 4ft would be in nature with higher light intensity, constant fresh water running and very high humidity. I’ve never seen them that high in cultivation in the UK.
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Now that the gorgeous electric-blue and white aquatic Iris have finished flowering, the pond provides a splendid showing from the the humble pond lilies (can’t remember which variety these are though).
It’s a shame that the leaves get so damaged…
Some of the culprits!
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Those fish are pests, fools have introduced them to the freshwater streams here and they’re dominating and kill the native fish.
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At last, I have found the best watering lance. 24" plus the valve handle. Perfect length. Anodised light aluminium wide tube with strong crimped ends. The valve handle screws onto the tube and the hoze coupling is on the cast part, so alleviating the stress from the thinner tube.
This is the high flow valve with one-touch action, which is a key point. Brass connections.
Another key point and the biggest difference from all other lances, is this rose. It’s narrower design for typical household low pressure supply. I couldn’t have imagined the difference this makes, not only for the obvious spray pattern, but the perfect width for watering pot plants. Large holes don’t clog up, gentle watering and machined from solid alloy.
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They’re not such a problem over here in Blighty Pete. Our climate doesn’t suit them quite so well as it does in Oz or the US (where I know Carp can be a huge problem) so their breeding is usually held in check. In captive ponds here it’s possible to stop their breeding by simply denying them access to the soft material they need to spawn.
If some idiot releases them into the wild over here, their bright colour usually makes them an easy target for a number of predators: Chub, Perch, Pike, Cormorants, Herons, Otters and Mink (one of our most problematic foreign invaders).
Mine are all Japanese bred (now between 18 and 25 inches long) and IMHO are very beautiful and calming to watch. They do tend to regard anything in the water as possible food though, hence the damage to the Lily pads.
Like all these species that are introduced it’s not their fault it’s the idiots that release them.
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I’m with you on this. How hard is it to provide a single piece metal tube with a decent valve on one end and a soft flow rose on the other? Instead of wobbly and leaky bits of plastic stuck on both ends of a rattly thin gauge metal tube offering a selection of water pattern and telescopic slide which no one really needs and will no doubt break within days of use.
Where did you get your Dramm bits from?
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I’ll have to come back to you as ABC are about to come on soon😎
It looks like Mr Tux is already checking the new premises.
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That’s my Edda, one of my 3 black sister cats.
Mr Tux is the one who wears a tuxedo, and likes a good grumble too.
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looks excellent
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At the risk of re-opening “old wounds” the stone wall and fence are extraordinary
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The rule of 45 degrees was clearly broken
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The rule of 45 degrees has merely been strategically bent slightly, in a well calculated and executed plan of achieving a much improved outcome. Despite the rather unorthodox plan of plonking a garden shed in a relatively close proximity to the kitchen window outlook, this was a risk worth taking, and the result has worked out to my satisfaction. Put a big smile on my face when i rolled up the blind on that kitchen window this morning 
The good news is; the shed doesn’t block any light or leave shadows on the house, it faces the north so is itself in the shadow of the gabion wall and fence behind it.
It will also be an excellent place to have the garden tools, and other stuff for handy storage.
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