After a number of leafy but bud-less seasons, this is my first lotus flower. (Thanks, Helen).

There is a tenuous link to bamboo though. The lotus grows in a rusty old bathtub lined with heavy builders plastic. The rim of the bathtub is covered in split lengths of bamboo. This serves two main purposes. It weighs the plastic sheeting down and protects it from the ultra-violet rays that render the plastic brittle and crumbly over time. And it looks better than black plastic.

That’s all. I’m going back outside to harvest bamboo shoots now.