FISH SALAD?

I dropped by Petunia's Garden(click to visit) earlier this evening and there was mention of a lettuce called Flashy Trout Back with a photo of a seedling she has coming through. I was so intrigued by the name and the "look" of it that I did a Google and came up with this info;

Frank Morton of Wild Garden Seed in Philomath, Oregon, was growing the Austrian heirloom lettuce 'Forellenschluss' (which in German means "speckled like a trout") because of the beautiful reddish leaf speckles. He noticed the degree of "speckle-ness" varied dramatically from plant to plant and decided he wanted to isolate "the flashier end of the spectrum." Out of 200 plants, he selected 20 of the splotchiest and healthiest, transplanted them to a separate plot and saved their seed. After repeating this process for two generations, he had 80 percent showing the degree of red speckles he wanted; after four generations, he had his new creation which he named `Flashy Trout Back.'

I wasn't going to do a post on my garden blog today as I was a bit "achy" after some heavy lifting today but I've had a nice soak in the tub and feel a lot better now.

This afternoon Leanne and I installed some new garden lights; This next photo I've already posted on my Million Stories blog but as Sheila likened it to an impressionist painting (sounds better than ...it's blurred) I thought I'd post it on here too. One of the 25p bargain Clematis (the unnamed one) is now coming into flower.

22nd February

It looks quite like Nelly Moser or a Dr Ruppel. It's started flowering even before the Montana which is usually the first Clematis in bloom in our garden......I guess it must have liked the TLC I lavished on it.
I love the shape of the Jack-in-the-pulpit buds
and even though it's not in flower yet (though in bud) the shape of this hardy geraniums leaves are lovely
I know the Amaryllis that I have in bloom keeps creeping into my indoor photos; but I love it so much and it's blooms are the size of my outstretched hand.
HAPPY GARDENING