Blue Flower -sprig at www.japanese-home-gardens.com

These unusual curtains are made by stitching together lengths of different coloured fabrics, for a relaxed, pretty look. Shades of green and white feature, as does a pretty blue flower -sprig flower-sprig design. All the fabrics are of the same weight, to give an even effect, and the curtains are simply tied at the top to wooden rings, a pretty detail that also means they're less complicated to make than tab tops.

When Farrer wrote of Meconopsis his thoughts were of a very beautiful flower, a flower that had become, like edelweiss, a legend in its own horticultural time. For these blossoms are four-petaled (sometimes up to ten) poppies with many golden stamens and colors that run the gamut from sky blue flower -sprig to pale blue flower -sprig to deep purple and an occasional lavender. But they are flowers that, unfortunately, could be most politely termed as 'difficult to grow."

Split the skin of lamb and insert a cut clove of garlic in this. One clove gives a very delicate flavour— two a more definite one. Spread a sprig of fresh rosemary over the lamb or chop the leaves from a sprig very finely and sprinkle over the lamb during roasting.