The tassels of Garrya Elliptica cheer up a bitterly cold start to February
Sunday 1 February 2015
Sunday 21 December 2014
Highlights of my Garden Year
The
exact time of bloom or harvest depend on the weather
January
|
At the front, Garrya Elliptica
dangles its catkins in the Eastern corner. Viburnum Bodiensis “Dawn” displays pink vanilla scented blossom in the back garden. Snowdrops create a white stream in the ‘mini-wood’. |
February
|
Pale yellow primulas,
which may have been
flowering spasmodically since November or earlier are more conspicuous in the front garden. Snow drops continue in the back. Leeks add variety to winter vegetables. |
March
|
Hellebores, purple, pink and
white, flower by the path in the front garden. Early daffodils herald Spring. |
April
|
Bees venture out to visit cherry,
plum and pear blossom. Forsythia flaunts flowers on leafless branches. Late daffodils and mid-season tulips welcome Easter. |
May
|
Tall fluted tulips rise from a sea of blue forget-me-nots. Pink and white apple blossom looks down on scented narcissi. 'Purple Sensation' stands to attention. First lettuces. Last leeks. A black bird sings from the tip of a holly tree. |
Rosa ‘Buff Beauty’ flaunts fragrant blossom . Allium ‘Star of Persia’parades gigantic purple globes above now fading forget-me-nots. Delphiniums declare summer and so do strawberries. |
|
Crimson Crocosmia ‘Lucifer’
standsout against the greenery of lawn and shrubs. Hanging baskets of surfinias grace walls. |
|
Yellow daisies, (heliopsis, helenium, coreopsis and rudbeckia) along with the first dahlias brighten bed. Plums and damsons ripen, as do thornless blackberries and first apples. |
|
Dahlias are now in their prime. Michaelmass daisies add variety. Mid-season apples clutter the ground if left unpicked. In the green house peppers hang red and yellow. |
|
Coneflowers and dahlias continue Spiny Pyrecantha startles with brightorange fruit. The second flush of pJoanneJ raspberries will continue into November. |
|
Stately Mahonia Japonica creates a spectacle with fanning yellow blossom. Late eating apples promise to last until strawberries ripen next year. |
|
Blackbirds leave the tiny fruits of humble cotoneaster but strip flashy holly berries. The first fragrant flush of Viburnum Bodiensis “Dawn” appears if weather is dry.Dangling twigs of a birch tree glow orange in low winter sun. |
|
Sunday 1 December 2013
November 2013
On the last day of November a neighbour's tree still flaunts its second flush of leaves
Bonfires and Thanksgiving the only constants,
Fluctuating festivals hallmark Gregorian November.
Divali flirts with October and Hanukkah favours December,
While Eid skips in once in thirteen years.
Deciduous trees more unpredictably fickle,
Usually embrace November with naked limbs,
But occasionally retain a veil of golden leaves
That they will drop only for darkly handsome December.
OK. I'm not sure about the arithmetic of Eid. It could be once in eleven years or twice in twelve years. Please don't flame me for being poor at maths, but feel free to correct me in your best polite mode.
Saturday 8 October 2011
Batemans
I abandoned my own garden at the beginning of the month and went on a 5 day coach tour of the Gardens of Kent.
There was something to admire in each of the five gardens we visited but my most treasured memories are of Batemans, home for over 30 years to my favourite author.
I can imagine how Kipling must have felt when he first saw this isolated 17th-century house, with its mullioned windows and oak beams, set in the woodlands of the Sussex Weald. His wife apparently was not so impressed at the prospect of living so far from civilisation.
The property is fortunate to be under the protection of two societies, - the National Trust that owns and maintains it and the Kipling Society that provides enough help and information to keep a visitor occupied for a week let alone the five hours available to our party.
It rained much of the day we were there but I managed to get out between showers to wander round the gardens that provided the settings for Puck of Pook's Hill, Rewards and Fairies
and inspired
The Glory of the Garden.
Our England is a garden that is full of stately views,
Of borders, beds and shrubberies and lawns and avenues,
With statues on the terraces and peacocks strutting by;
But the Glory of the Garden lies in more than meets the eye.
For where the old thick laurels grow, along the thin red wall,
You will find the tool- and potting-sheds which are the heart of all;
The cold-frames and the hot-houses, the dungpits and the tanks:
The rollers, carts and drain-pipes, with the barrows and the planks.
And there you'll see the gardeners, the men and 'prentice boys
Told off to do as they are bid and do it without noise;
For, except when seeds are planted and we shout to scare the birds,
The Glory of the Garden it abideth not in words.
And some can pot begonias and some can bud a rose,
And some are hardly fit to trust with anything that grows;
But they can roll and trim the lawns and sift the sand and loam,
For the Glory of the Garden occupieth all who come.
Our England is a garden, and such gardens are not made
By singing:--"Oh, how beautiful!" and sitting in the shade,
While better men than we go out and start their working lives
At grubbing weeds from gravel-paths with broken dinner-knives.
There's not a pair of legs so thin, there's not a head so thick,
There's not a hand so weak and white, nor yet a heart so sick.
But it can find some needful job that's crying to be done,
For the Glory of the Garden glorifieth every one.
Then seek your job with thankfulness and work till further orders,
If it's only netting strawberries or killing slugs on borders;
And when your back stops aching and your hands begin to harden,
You will find yourself a partner in the Glory of the Garden.
Oh, Adam was a gardener, and God who made him sees
That half a proper gardener's work is done upon his knees,
So when your work is finished, you can wash your hands and pray
For the Glory of the Garden, that it may not pass away!
And the Glory of the Garden it shall never pass away!
Rudyard Kipling, 1911
There was something to admire in each of the five gardens we visited but my most treasured memories are of Batemans, home for over 30 years to my favourite author.
The property is fortunate to be under the protection of two societies, - the National Trust that owns and maintains it and the Kipling Society that provides enough help and information to keep a visitor occupied for a week let alone the five hours available to our party.
It rained much of the day we were there but I managed to get out between showers to wander round the gardens that provided the settings for Puck of Pook's Hill, Rewards and Fairies
and inspired
The Glory of the Garden.
Our England is a garden that is full of stately views,
Of borders, beds and shrubberies and lawns and avenues,
With statues on the terraces and peacocks strutting by;
But the Glory of the Garden lies in more than meets the eye.
For where the old thick laurels grow, along the thin red wall,
You will find the tool- and potting-sheds which are the heart of all;
The cold-frames and the hot-houses, the dungpits and the tanks:
The rollers, carts and drain-pipes, with the barrows and the planks.
And there you'll see the gardeners, the men and 'prentice boys
Told off to do as they are bid and do it without noise;
For, except when seeds are planted and we shout to scare the birds,
The Glory of the Garden it abideth not in words.
And some can pot begonias and some can bud a rose,
And some are hardly fit to trust with anything that grows;
But they can roll and trim the lawns and sift the sand and loam,
For the Glory of the Garden occupieth all who come.
Our England is a garden, and such gardens are not made
By singing:--"Oh, how beautiful!" and sitting in the shade,
While better men than we go out and start their working lives
At grubbing weeds from gravel-paths with broken dinner-knives.
There's not a pair of legs so thin, there's not a head so thick,
There's not a hand so weak and white, nor yet a heart so sick.
But it can find some needful job that's crying to be done,
For the Glory of the Garden glorifieth every one.
Then seek your job with thankfulness and work till further orders,
If it's only netting strawberries or killing slugs on borders;
And when your back stops aching and your hands begin to harden,
You will find yourself a partner in the Glory of the Garden.
Oh, Adam was a gardener, and God who made him sees
That half a proper gardener's work is done upon his knees,
So when your work is finished, you can wash your hands and pray
For the Glory of the Garden, that it may not pass away!
And the Glory of the Garden it shall never pass away!
Rudyard Kipling, 1911
Saturday 23 July 2011
Linden trees
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIHxzx-qCdlqkWgVEGg8IUoDfeKxQg5UTqK4cnHJandNupzdMlI20gzYmwkr1Z8zjVitqKe8JZV6GTL96hgziuJSmJTn0g_jcjqwxfsINKO5Cwt8cP2UyW574iUPVR36k1Ifa3WNs3ZU8/s320/lindentree.jpg)
This is my favourite time of the year for taking an evening stroll or pottering about in the front garden watering or deadheading .
The linden trees (also known as lime or tilia or basswood) are in blossom- not conspicuous flowers, granted, but oh! the perfume, far more powerful this year than for several in the past. One very poor summer, two, or was it three, years ago, all residents commented that they had missed the perfume entirely. In any case, it lasts no longer than a fortnight. When at its best, one forgives the trees their tendency to block up gutters and drains with leaves in Autumn and drop twigs and small branches onto cars in all year round gales.
Most tall linden trees, like the ones in our road are remnants of the Victorian era. Nowadays many councils do not regard them as suitable for urban planting.
I am told that there are two dwarf varieties of linden 'Green Globe' and 'Lico, that look like lollipops on sticks and usually grow to know more than 15' in height. If their blossom is as well perfumed as the species lindens they may well become desirable street plants.
For a fuller account of Linden trees, botanically, pharmaceutically and historically see the article in Wikipedia
Saturday 26 February 2011
Opening Up
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGkVQF77bMBvmEO2xZiV_ZgisakpNwTomelamZDv73bRRopEe0GX_QPPDHQR3PdhEW0V_EdKjMEbszxUVdEPl3XFQLQGksmsc5P_8qKLrQ7BDDJBJ9C0ItaM72wNYWV28Jsg5tv90vJFs/s320/before.jpg)
The downside was that the very dense conifer which kept me hidden from the rest of my garden also hid the view of my favourite tree, the beauty pine. Whereas most pines have stiff prickly needles, the needles of the beauty pine slip soft as silk through one's fingers. It's large pine cones are beige crescent moons. In December I prune it and use great branches to stand in for a Christmas tree. While pruning this year however I noticed that the dense conifer nearer the house was excluding so much light from the the from the beauty pine that its branches on one side were dying. The dense conifer had to go.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRyXyEjoRmWNzhLnQbxASTcFeVhAQEzsrCyXvfs4XrrHnwa9SZ_p8_Vf3hksPtXHvuMIXHrxhK1ngda-BZIFHUrUqStoHJ78CWRwYwgqvJPFNTKo_KNpVJ9_wkJEXh-f04S2aULZyrgUM/s320/after.jpg)
I have lost my private haven but can now see the snowdrops from my conservatory window
Friday 28 January 2011
Winter plants surviving after 15 degrees of frost
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJYe4dQYTGEfh4jR1-gIFJBt51M8xK1Zi04nJy7ILfD2bJhJNlzPUb5SfAfkLPwZnH3X0QaGtgmiLgNLFVDo4dVfERcDgwv8QQ6HMDoaIGW4OKx9Zo1vzPgrKg19xsUBs4euxexa1OpQ0/s320/helleboreJan.jpg)
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhP8HUpQhStPYn1gSFvAX31vPTzT2x48r5PNl00RHJ8rVxMW5KFGIGwVorXlgaPsJ5ByASR-yzT7zC9ca24q0lHeq2pyKpPe9l0HK2M8GHDZsPnikEktNs-Wv-NNt9oqSPamV6JAJVlxng/s320/Janchoisya.jpg)
For the past three years winter here in the East Midlands of the UK has followed a middle eastern calender, with intervals of just 324 days between big freezes (so we had January 2009 to February 2009, December 2009 to January 2010 and November 2010 to January 2011 with freezes growing colder each year). However, while winter has been roaring in earlier, spring has been arriving later so, who knows, this winter may be twice as long as the one four years ago.
I wouldn't mind so much if tender pests were being killed off but the lily beetle that migrated into the East Midlands during the preceding spell of mild winters, was still with us last summer.
November's freeze ruined the first flush of the vanilla fragrant pink flowers of Viburnum Dawn that usually grace December and January in my back garden. The second flush is struggling from brown mush despite still heavy frosts and low daytime temperatures so if, for the rest of winter, night temperatures fall to no more than a few degrees below zero, I may still enjoy a shrub full of perfumed blossom while most other plants are sulking.
I am not sure how cold it has to get before the hardy evergreen viburnum tinus gets fazed, but its white flowers are happily opening over the porch although their coarse perfume holds no appeal to me.
Choisya Sundance brightens up the winter with its golden foliage but the flowers disappeared with the first mild frost.
Garry elliptica's catkins are still fresh and the leaves have not been seared. as they were a few years ago, by a less cold but fierce wind from the South West. Swirls of broom twigs too have a quiet beauty of their own.
Most other plants of interest this January, however, unfurling hellebore buds, emerging spears of snowdrops striped with white, primroses showing but single flowers on their spikes, escape notice unless searched for.
I don't seem to be able to position photos where I want them in this blog, the white buds are those of the hellebore (Christmas rose) the shrube is Choisya Sundance
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