Calladiums

Anyone who has read my blog for more than a year will know of my enthusiasm for calladiums, those wonderful variegated leaf plants used as bedding in Tampa, Florida. I have woven and grown them but getting them in the UK has been impossible for the last three years. I opened up a Blom's Bulbs catalogue a few days ago and there were calladium tubers - four different gorgeous varieties!! The implication in the text was that you should treat them as dahlias over winter, that is, lift the tubers and keep them in sand till next sping. Otherwise a nice sunny spot will do. So I have ordered three of each variety. One of each will live on the studio window and the rest will be arrayed round the patio. I can't wait!! The colour patterns are different from anything I have seen before. Now I wonder. When I finish the Convergence piece, I should have a bit of warp left. I feel a new draft of Calladiums coming on!

Last night, Rosie Price and I spent several hours on the computer and intermittently on the phone to each other, buying air tickets for Convergence. The prices have rocketed in the last two years. British Airways wanted £1,700 to take me from Boston to Stockholm. Well thank you but no. I am going Aer Lingus with a stopover of 1.5 hours in Dublin. Rosie and I are flying together (seats next to each other!) from Heathrow to Boston. My one-way ticket on the same plane was more expensive than Rosie's return ticket and that was expensive enough. So I am feeling very poor this morning and will need to transfer money around. Fortunately the rest of my trips in 2014 and not expensive.

But the thought of the calladiums still makes me feel cheerful.