Everything in the garden's rosy..

Wordpress

2008-05-26T13:04:00.004+01:00

I have succeded in moving the whole of this blog, with the exception of a few of the things in the side bar, to a new plant centred blog on Wordpress.

If you click this link you will go to the new blog. It is separate from my textile blog and exists independently of it, so if you have been one of the 5000 odd people who came by here last year, thank you so much. It has been wonderful to share with you and I would love to see you again on the transferred blog.

Please update you blogroll reference if you have one.

There will be no further postings here......

parrot feathers!

2008-05-05T17:55:00.005+01:00

Well after the lovely comments you ladies left me, how can I not continue? So I present you with a gift of colour.

This is a tulip and I think the variety is Texas Flame. I adore the gaudiness of these flowers. I don't always like my flowers flamboyant-especially in my own garden, but I have a real soft spot for these extravagant tulips. I understand completely why there was tulip mania in the seventeenth century, and huge sums of money were paid for tulip bulbs. Who would be able to resist, if you belonged to the aristocracy?

These "flamed" tulips, are sometimes called Rembrandt tulips after the Dutch artist and although he didn't paint them, other seventeenth century Dutch artists did.

The bi-colouration was initially the result of the plants being infected by tulip mosaic virus which caused the solid colours to "break", but now they are more likely to result from the experiments plant breeding . However they are caused, I always think they resemble parrots' feathers.
If you click on the lower picture, you will see a tiny spider on the top petal. It must be my signature creature.

Tinkering with this

2008-05-03T13:41:00.003+01:00

It was my one year Blog Anniversary here last week-although it went unmarked on this blog as I mentioned below, I have moved over to Wordpress. In the course of writing briefly about my one year here, I linked back to my first post and in doing so, rediscovered the thoughts and feelings I experienced when writing it.
For some time I have though about deleting this blog completely, but like the things that grow in my garden, I can't destroy something which still has value to me, which is still to my eyes beautiful.
So I am perhaps going to do a little pruning and a little sowing and see where we go.

moving out

2008-03-28T20:00:00.004Z

I have not been posting here for a few days now because I am in the process of moving blogs. I am slowly combining the 2 blogs I have on Blogger-this one and spinning yarns-on the side bar- to a new blog at

threadspider.wordpress.com

If you regularly stop by, please update your bookmarks and if it is the botanical side of my life you are interested in, look for me on the page called the greener side at the top of the blog.

Thank you all for visiting me here and I look forward to welcoming you in my new quarters very soon.

Garden tour

2008-03-17T20:13:00.008Z

I have been a little remiss with posting for the last week, but would like to invite you to a quick tour around the garden now.

The pocket handkerchief size of my blessed (fraction of an) acre is best seen from one of the bedroom windows. The little pond where the frogs continue to spawn is top right of the picture, beneath where the Autumn cherry is blossoming. It always does better in Spring. These frogs seem to have joined a silent monastic order, unlike the Pacific chorus frogs, mentioned here.

Same view from ground level- the daffodils are wearing their golden robes to great effect. One of the smaller ones is this little beauty, complete with a slug chew mark. They've started already.

I can't remember the variety.

These lovely purple crocus have opened in the last two days-they are still in the unspoiled stage. I do like crocuses, but wish they lasted a little longer. Such is the transience of beauty.

And in the summer perennials bed, where the fennel has started into growth, a tiny multi- headed jonquil type daffodil is just coming into flower.

A walk to the allotment, where the soil is very wet after the recent heavy rains, has produced a burst of rhubarb growth. Hooray, not long now until the first rhubarb crumble.

Frog

2008-03-10T12:35:00.007Z

Need I say more? DH's fabulous portrait of a frog in our pond, taken yesterday.

Thinking time

2008-03-09T15:19:00.006Z

I took myself for a stroll round the neighbourhood this morning, revelling in having the time to just think and ponder on things as I went. One of the joys of having stopped working is being able to have some free head space. You know, the room to actually think about all sorts of things unrelated to surviving.

I have to confess that sometimes head space is a rather Homer Simpson affair, where the brain is just bumbling, saying "think of something, think of something", but at other times there is actual creative thought going on.

This morning I was pondering on Spring. I love the Spring-there can't be many people who don't-as the bringer of optimism and renewal. I eagerly wait for the signs that show me new life is beginning, old life is renewing. I dislike the winter intensely-and feel for those of you who endure many long dark months. I am afraid I would not do very well in a country with long winters, however lovely snow and ice can be. It's the lack of light that bothers me.

Today was a lovely spring like day-warm and sunny, with such a ringing clarity to the air. I took a stroll around the neighbourhood, mulling this clarity of light, marvelling at the intensity it brought to colours and searching for those little signs.

Plants are truly wonderful emblems of renewal. In the hedgerows there was new blossom, delicate white petals on blackthorn and wild plums, tiny drumstick stamens contrasting with the clarity of the blooms.

Beside the brook, celandines and primroses bathed in the sunshine. Two weeks ago they were not here, but the energy of the sun brought them to this stage very quickly. The air felt charged with this energy.

Sometimes it is not knowing the science that matters, that the growth is a chemical response in the plant, but that it happens at all. What matters is having the eyes to see it and the time to reflect on the beauty of it. As the poet Thomas Hardy said, "to notice such things."
(In Afterwards.)

No stopping the spring now

2008-03-08T16:14:00.007Z

Daffodil White Lion

Winds and rains are blowing in from the west-the mild quarter. In between the showers the sun is warm enough to encourage rapid growth. The seedlings I sowed indoors last week are well through now and in the garden , summer perennials are pushing through the layer of mulch I spread on the beds. Pink peony shoots, ripe with the promise of rich flowers, fresh green poppy leaves.

The daffodils are at their finest right now. Particularly fine are the variety "White Lion" , manes glittering in the sunshine and sweet of scent.

A tiny annual miracle

2008-03-03T11:15:00.006Z

Here it is! The first frog spawn in the pond for this year. I don't think I will ever lose my delight at finding this tiny manifestation of creation .

Freshly laid spawn is much firmer than when it has been in the water for a few days. It sits proud of the surface, before slowly sinking as water is absorbed through the cell walls.

In this early stage it is quite vulnerable to frost damage and we have a couple of very cold nights(by Southern England standards) forecast. I may take a very small quantity of the spawn and raise it in an aquarium in a sheltered part of the garden. The tadpoles can be released back into the pond later on, but I may be able to prevent all being killed by frost. And it will be fun to watch it develop, because I am still big kid when it comes to things like this!

March winds

2008-03-01T17:01:00.006Z

I worried about the roof last night as the Westerly blew, announcing the arrival of March. I worried about the new daffodils that seem to meet and greet the March winds every year.
I wandered about in poetic vein at 3 am, the rafters creaking. This is what accompanied my thoughts.

March roared in-
a warrior gloved and shod in steel.
And in the dawning light
St David's standards lay
strewn on the battlefield of David's Day.

But to my delight, the daffodils survived the onslaught of the west wind and greeted St David's Day with heads held high.

Daffodil Jetfire

The progress of Spring

2008-02-26T19:21:00.004Z

February Collage

Looking out of the window in the morning now I can see that the birch tree monochrome is gradually becoming spangled with little green flashes, where the hawthorn is unfurling its new leaves. Last week the buds began to burst and now proper little leaves are fluttering in the wind.

In the back garden, the larger daffodils are opening and the little February Gold and Tete a Tete are in full bloom, although sadly, the earliest snowdrops are beginning to go over already. Down in the pond, more frogs have joined the first pair-I counted 5 pairs this morning although there is still no spawn. Last year there was spawn by the 20th of February.

I sowed seeds today-violas, statice, the first few marigolds and borage-anticipating hot summer days with a pitcher of chilled Pimms, decorated with the sapphire flowers of borage. The seedlings were placed on a window sill in an unheated bedroom, carefully covered to keep them moist. On the allotment I planted some onion sets , next to the garlic and left space for some shallots. That's the onion family almost sorted out, although I need to sort out an area for the leeks .

My next job is to prepare a patch to sow parsnips-they seemed to benefit last year from a long growing season.

Of sparrowhawks and daffodils

2008-02-21T10:34:00.004Z

A little flock of about a dozen chaffinches was feeding on the grass this morning. It scattered dramatically, accompanied by the alarm rattle of blackbird, as a male sparrowhawk swooped across the garden, landed briefly in the mountain ash and took off again in hot pursuit of a sparrow, into the honeysuckle thicket. After a few moments, the sparrowhawk emerged, empty clawed, and winged swiftly away. The garden was quiet for some time afterwards.

The wind has turned to the west, bringing the Atlantic ocean in its light drizzle. The frost is gone. And the lovely Ice Follies daffodils are open.

Monochrome

2008-02-20T19:51:00.005Z

A wet Wednesday,
English drizzle,
dew dripping trees
swan silver,
jackdaw and
pigeon breast grey,
faded leaves,
Monochrome mood.

Marmalade 2

2008-02-19T16:35:00.004Z

Potted sunshine-at Louise's suggestion. I have even added a drop of a very fine single malt to one pot, to put away for Christmas 2008! Now that is forward planning, for me.

Seville sunshine-or Marmalade, as we call it.

2008-02-18T17:49:00.006Z

After my triumph last year with making marmalade -goodness, back in the days before I blogged, I repeated the experiment today.

In the UK, Seville oranges (Citrus aurantium)- the bitter, rather dry kind that are just the very best marmalade oranges, have a very short season-from December to February. I waited and waited for them to appear in the supermarkets-but nothing happened, but a few days ago I tracked some down in the local farm shop. They were like miniature Spanish suns and I was reminded of one visit to Seville when we parked the car under orange trees and walked over the fallen fruit, so heavily laden were the trees. It was such a hot day.

The recipe is very easy and the ingredients simple, oranges, a lemon and sugar and if anyone wants it, I'll post it. It is a bit time consuming as the peel needs to be cut into very thin slivers, but now, we have another few jars to keep us going for the rest of the year. And the flavour will be better than ANY commercially made product. Bottled sunshine.

Frogs' legs

2008-02-17T18:08:00.006Z

There is ice on the pond-even in the warmth of the afternoon, the pond is too shady for the ice to melt. And in the pond, a pair of frogs are lurking near the edge where there is a little free water. They see me sneaking up on them..and like submariners in a movie they Dive! Dive! Dive!
And all I capture are their back legs.

Spring planting

2008-02-12T19:19:00.000Z

This morning I put together the mini greenhouse I bought on Saturday , working outdoors in the sunshine. It was very easy to assemble and it inspired me to make a sowing of broad beans- a few replacements for the Aquadulce Claudia that are already growing on the plot and a first sowing of a another variety, Masterpiece. I used the deep, root trainer type planting tubes, shaped like toilet roll inners, so the beans can be planted straight into the ground when they are big enough.
Several of the hardy fuchsias and geraniums that have overwintered in pots outside have started into growth, so they have been potted into fresh compost and placed in the mini greenhouse too. I found many vine weevil larvae in the compost-they seem to have had a good season last year-so it was an opportune bit of repotting. With luck, the plants will be able to grow away in their new compost.

The afternoon was truly golden and after some more manure shifting on the allotment and a shared flask of dandelion and burdock cordial with VP, I came home for a well earned wash-cow manure is not my favourite perfume- and a sit in the garden with a cup of tea. No, this is not typical February weather for the UK and no, it isn't going to last much longer, but it is so welcome after the greyness and wet of the winter.

The garden was full of birds-chaffinches, bullfinches, goldfinches and greenfinches, blue tits, great tits and coal tits, robins, dunnocks, wrens, blackbirds and sparrows. A collection of the common but pretty birds of English gardens. And the sun shone through the daffodils, burnishing them to pure gold.

Golden sunshine

2008-02-11T15:14:00.001Z

I think hardly anyone who is experiencing the beauty of this February sunshine in the UK hasn't felt their spirits lift, if only a little. I know I certainly feel a whole lot better for being able to get out into the air and feel the sun on my skin. It was mild enough after a frosty start for bees to be bumbling about on the rosemary, adding their gentle humming to the birdsong.

I have spent the day so far gardening, both on the allotment and at home. My allotment is beginning to dry out and the increasing altitude of the sun means more of the plot is now receiving sunshine. I was delighted to find today that the beds I have topped dressed with manure, rather than where I have dug the stuff into the soil, look as if they will soon be ready to plant in. The garlic bed has had a sprinkling of organic chicken manure and the worms have been doing a splendid job incorporating the manure into the top surface of the soil. The manure thatch has protected the soil surface too, so it is less compacted by the rain, and seems to be working as a blanket too. I have consulted the wonderful Moon Planting calendar on the Garden's Calendar website, and fingers crossed, Friday looks like garlic planting day.

At the weekend I bought a mini plant rearing unit.....

... so that I can start some of the tougher seeds outside but with a little protection. Tomorrow I shall assemble it, and again using the Moon Planting calendar, will start some broads beans to supplement the ones I sowed back in the autumn. I am going to start off some shallots in pots too, as suggested by Matron over on Down on the Allotment.

The singing of the bells

2008-02-10T16:52:00.001Z

Wild plum blossom (Prunus cerasifera)

Sun glazed Sunday,
Sounds on still air-
Church bells singing,
Churchyard whispers,
sleep of centuries,
Chaffinch anthem,
water trickle,
willow sunburst
wild plum promise,
Perfect.

St Martin's, Bremhill

Here lyeth
the body of
Hester Wife of
William Wise
Who died June 4th 1774
Aged 67 years

Pollarded willow, Bremhill

Pollarded willow, Bremhill

Rummaging around for pictures.

2008-02-08T17:46:00.001Z

February floral calendar

I was looking for painting I made about 25 years ago last week, as an inspiration for a piece of textile work I am trying to do for the Take it Further challenge I am participating in on my other blog. I am a bit of a hoarder and whilst I am trying to pare down the clutter I have, I have to keep my creative stuff.

In my search for the painting-and I was never in doubt I would find it even though I haven't looked at it for years- I turned up a small stack of watercolours I made quite a few years ago. It is a lovely feeling to find something you had forgotten about, and whilst not great art, I was pleased with what I had done.

My original intention, if I recall, was to paint a floral calendar with a monthly depiction of flowers I thought epitomised the season. I am going to post a picture each month as far as I can. I think there may be a couple of gaps later on in the year-I don't think there is a November, but it might be fun to have them on the blog. The picture above was my February attempt-snowdrops with willow catkins. I hope you enjoy.

Anemones and sunshine

2008-02-08T17:25:00.000Z

As promised, here is a glimpse of the lovely blue anemones. There are several out now and many more to come, but the main clump is still to flower-this one is a straggler.

Today- a real touch of Spring arrived from the West, with warmth in the sun and yours truly in pruning mode after a morning at work. Two ramblers and 2 clematis done whilst a blackbird serenaded me. It was good to be outside and I have now started to make a list of the jobs that need doing. Tomorrow I will feed the roses and clematis and top dress them with manure, and plant a clematis from its pot into the ground. I need to clear and prepare the home vegetable beds for some seed sowing and if the weather holds, as it promises to, I hope to get to the allotment early next week to get the garlic in.

It was astonishing how quickly the sun brought the daffodils into flower-they have been in suspended bud mode for a few days, but a kiss from the sun, and here they are. Like the daffodils, I respond to kisses from the sun at this time of year too! It's the first time I have felt halfway human for weeks!

Daffodil "Cornish Gold"

Dwarf daffodil "Tete a Tete"

Iris Reticulata

My favourite garden colour scheme -blue and gold.

First anemones

2008-02-06T20:14:00.001Z

Imagine if you will a miniature damp meadow/woodland edge. There is dappled shade and lovely patches of sunshine, moisture but also places of warmth and dryness. In this micro climate, imagine anemones-not the jewel colours of the common cut flowers of Anemone coronaria, nor the welcome late blooming Japanese anemones, but the sapphire treasures of early spring, Anemone blanda.

Out in the wild woods, the delicate white anemone nemerosa are developing, but not flowering yet, but here in my tiny woodland edge border, the anemone blanda opened their first flowers today. Hopefully tomorrow there will be a picture.

In a garden of rare treasures

2008-02-04T17:43:00.000Z

This morning I joined VP and several other ladies on a visit to the Botanic Nursery for a workshop on shrub pruning, run by the owner. Terry-the owner is a real plantsman and enthusiast and possesses encyclopaedic knowledge of plants and their care, all effortlessly delivered in the manner of such great plantsmen. I felt no question would have been treated without gentle and careful thought, and no question would have been outside his knowledge. In another life he would have made a great teacher.

We were privileged to be able to stroll around the garden that is the source of much of the propagating material used in the nursery, as well as around the plant area. Terry explained how each of the many rare and less rare shrubs could be pruned, as well as describing the best conditions for growth and frequently the origins of the plant. All the while we were serenaded by a garden full of birds in Spring song, or raucous chorus in the case of the rooks and jackdaws. And the sun shone for us too.

I mostly resisted buying anything but had to bring home a little deep blue Pulmonaria "Blue Ensign" that was calling to me...

Candlemass

2008-02-02T12:17:00.000Z

Snowdrop (Galanthus nivalis)
from Galanthus meaning, roughly, milkflower and nivalis-of the snow.

Today, February 2nd, is Candlemass Day, Imbolc, Groundhog Day, St Bridget's day and probably a festival of remembrance for others I know nothing about, and one of those days traditionally used to predict the weather, certainly here in England.
The old rhyme says,

" If Candlemas day be fair and bright,
Winter will have another flight.
If Candlemas day be shower and rain,
Winter is gone and will not come again."

There are many twists on this but you get the drift-if its bright and cold, 6 more weeks of winter will follow, if it's wet, winter is nearly over. For the record, it' s bright and cold here with rain forecast for later. Make of that what you will!

Snowdrops are associated with the festival of Candlemass throughout the British Isles, being already in full bloom in many places in the South and well on the way elsewhere. On Candlemass, falling as it does 40 days after Jesus' birth, services remember Jesus' presentation at the Temple in Jerusalem and Mary's purification. The snowdrops are thought to depict Mary's purity and chastity and Simeon's prophecy that a sword would pierce Mary's heart. The tiny piercing spears of the snowdrop foliage symbolise Mary's sorrow and lament at the foot of the cross.

The Groundhog connection is also to do with the weather, and is linked to that idea of it it was sunny, an animal emerging from its hole saw its shadow and thus there would be 6 more weeks of winter. In the Old World, it was badgers who feature in the story, but the German settlers to Pennsylvania used the local groundhogs as the predictor.

As for Imbloc, this is one of the festivals of the Pagan and Celtic calendar, lying exactly half way been the winter solstice and the spring equinox. Imbolc celebrations centred around the lighting of fires. Fire was perhaps more important for this festival than others as it was also the holy day of Brigid (also known as Bride, Brigit, Brid), the Goddess of fire, healing and fertility. The lighting of fires celebrated the increasing power of the Sun over the coming months. For the Christian calendar, this holiday was reformed and renamed 'Candlemas' when candles are lit to remember the purification of the Virgin Mary. And so the celebrations and stories are handed on and changed to fit the time and place they told in. I love the history behind the words and the celebrations. And I love these flowers too.

Dwarf Daffodil "February Gold"

January ends

2008-01-31T14:55:00.000Z

It's a wind whistling,
catkin shaking,
scarf tugging,
feather ruffling,
crow calling
sort of a day....

and there's snow on its breath.