Dede Sophie

Late August and early September, I embarked on a 10 day monsoon motorcycle ride through the Western Ghats of India. I had gone on a couple of day rides to lesser known Hoysala temples after the lockdown, but this was my first long trip since 22nd March. And boy was I happy! Monsoons happen to be my favorite season of the year. I love the rains, the freshness in the air, the lush green views, the richness of ecosystem and most important of all, I love getting wet. And what better place to enjoy the monsoons than the Western Ghats. My 2000 kms motorcycle ride took me to the following places in the Western Ghats of Karnataka over 10 days. There was a lot of walking, trekking, getting wet, eating traditional foods and sleeping to petrichor in between all the motorcycle rides. 1) Sirsi – Yellapur region: Unchalli Falls , Magod Falls , Sathodi Falls , Bilihole Falls , Sonda Vadiraj Mutt 2) Kumta region: Devimane Ghat, Mirjan Fort 3) Karavali coast: Maravanthe Beach , Kota, Kallu Ganapati

Author Wendy Corsi Staub is one busy gal! Last year, every single time I emailed her, she was either on her way to some event, or coming back from one. I honestly don’t know how she can write so prolifically as she does! Even this guest post today (see below) was written while on a flight back to JFK from a Caribbean vacation. Now that’s dedication! And that’s one of the reasons why she’s so wide read as she is. If you’re new to this author, then I must tell you that Wendy Corsi Staub is a New York Times bestseller with the suspense novels she writes under her own name, and a USA Today bestseller with women’s fiction she writes under her pseudonym Wendy Markham. Whether killing off suspects or romancing a bad boy, Wendy is equally adept at making the readers care and become so engrossed in her plots as to make them feel they’re actually there, experiencing it all. 2010 is shaping up to be an exciting year for her, with the launch of a brand new thriller trilogy from Harper’s AVON BO

The typica exotic garden has little to show in the spring so wee went to RHS Wisley garden to see what their top 5 five exotic plants would be in March. English Horticulturist Lorna investigated what is arguably one of the UK’s finest exotic gardens and deceided on her top 5 five exootic plants at this time of year. These included two palms, two conifers and an evergreen shrub, all of which stood out during this visit. If you would like to see more content like this then check out our other videos at out YouTube channel ‘Walking Talking Gardeners’. It is free to subscribe and by clicking the notification bell you can be notified whenever a new video is published.

This giant arum lily was an absolute surprise when we saw it at Wisley last year. So impressive was it that I had to buy one myself. The trouble is that very few nurseries were growing it but luckily I manage to pick up a specimen albeit a small one. Now there has been some issue regarding the name as mentioned in this video, plus I have been contacted by one of our viewers who states that Wisley does have it right and Champion plants who supplied the plant has it wrong. It is very difficult to say as nursery that introduced this plant is now calling both plants the same cultivar! Anyway, what is important is that this plant is and absolute eye-catcher and is listed as hardy down to -5 to -10 degree Celsius, which means that it will grow in large parts of the UK. If you would like to see more content like this then check out our YouTube Channel ‘Walking talking Gardeners’. It is absolutely free to subscribe to and you can unsubscribe at any time.