Oh, my poor balcony ...

Never, ever go away and leave your balcony to the mercy of husbands and plant sitters. Oh my poor pelargoniums, eaten alive by Geranium Bronze Butterfly larvae.

And oh my poor Hebe. Were you scorched to death or did they just forget to water you?

The red spider mite has taken its toll too. Oh my poor Jerusalem artichokes.

And my poor Philadelphus - well, it seems to have turned to paper.

I could go on. The grey-brown mould covered hump which was once a pot of thyme, the dry yellow stalks which I was hoping would produce a mouth-watering crop of tomatoes. I could publish the photos, but I think it would be too upsetting. And children might come in.

With only a few exceptions there's going to be nothing to do but rip everything out and start again. And even the exceptions may not survive as I'm going to be away again for the next few weeks - firstly at the sea for a few days with my son, and then back in England, where we didn't manage to finish doing everything that was necessary to the house, despite working frantically for five weeks. So the balcony is going to be dependent on my husband again - who swears the plants were still "mostly" alive when he came over to London and left them to our plant sitter in mid-August. We shall see ...

House Plans_ Good Design Illustrated 1

Last week we announced we are now selling house plans designed by Larson Brenner in Stillwater, Minnesota. We think that these designs are special in the way they cleverly pack function and convenience within a fairly modest floor plan. In order to convey that idea I am today beginning a series of postings on planning features. The idea is to illustrate good design principals by highlighting features on the plans. So this will be the first in the series.

The floor plan shown below is the Prescott Cottage, designed by Larson Brenner Architects. My comments are shown right on the plan. You can get a little better look by going to the Simply Elegant Monthly Newsletter.