Top Picks from the Botanics

We were lucky to see the Jade Vine in full bloom again. It seems to be one of those colours that's almost impossible to capture without more post-production than I have time for. This is the third time we've seen it, and probably the most spectacular as some of the tresses were down at eye level. It's some consolation to see, looking at various photos online, that other people too find it hard to capture the colour. Even the first time we saw it, when one of the gardeners gave me some of the fallen flowers to take home, I was never able to get a picture that I felt perfectly captured it.

One of the fly-eating plants - I didn't note the name as it was in a very small and at the time somewhat crowded room at the end of the Orchid House. There was also a series of delightful drawings of the different types of carnivorous plants, with cut-away diagrams showing how they attract and trap insects.

We saw a tortoise down by the lily ponds - the first time in all my years going there that I've seen one, but from the old, flaking shell it's obviously not likely to be a newcomer.