Month: March 2020

Today’s  cheer-up images for those of us in lockdown are views of one of our gardeners’ spring garden.  Let’s see what we’ve got:

 

 

 

Looking lovely!

 

It’s time for Tuesday Treats again, for touching base with one of my gardening groups, and giving them a few treats for the week.  Or, toilsome tasks, depending on your point of view.  :~))

Most of that will go out by email, but I’m going to use this blog post as a nature table exercise, for the identification of, and discussion of, exhibits.

The images today were taken by one of our gardeners (who should, at least, know the answers!) at Dunham Massey, a National Trust property near Altrincham, Greater Manchester.  Like all National Trust properties, Dunham Massey is currently closed.

One of them is easy, one is moderately difficult, and the other is fiendishly hard.  I hope everyone will have a go.  After discussion, I’ll return to this post, and identify the images for anyone still scratching their head.

Here we go:

Edited to add : First, we have Iris ‘Katharine Hodgkin’ AGM (Reticulata Group)

This is said to be a hybrid of Iris winogradowii and Iris histrioides, but is often sold as an Iris reticulata.

 

Edited to add: Second is Erythronium tuolumnense, one of the Californian dog’s tooth violets.  Given another day or so, these would have turned their petals back into the familiar recurved Turk’s cap shape.  More commonly seen in the UK is Erythronium ‘Pagoda’, which is similar but different, if you know what I mean!

 

Edited to add:  Third is the really difficult one.  This is Lathraea clandestina, or Purple Toothwort, and it’s unlike most other plants.  It’s a parasite, and it grows on the roots of various trees, especially willow and poplar.  It’s found in the damp, shady places where its hosts grow.  It has no chlorophyll and relies on food taken from its host.  Its leaves are simple scale-like structures carried on the underground stems.  Lathraea is from the Greek for ‘hidden’, and clandestina means ‘secret’.  The seed capsules are explosive.  It’s a native of W. Europe, but not of Britain, being first planted at Kew Gardens in 1888.  It is now widespread but rare.

So, how did you do on these three?

Stay safe, everyone.

It’s Monday, and winter has struck again.  At least there’s no snow here, but the temperature is in single figures and the wind has knives in it.

Something pretty, then.  From one of our gardeners, here’s a pretty little double daffodil.

 

I’m not sure which variety these are – they look a bit like Golden Ducat – but whatever their name, they’re as cheerful as seeing the sun.

Thanks for sharing!

So, it’s the day the clocks go forward one hour for British Summer Time.  The weather forecast is for temperatures near zero, wintry showers and a nithering wind.  On a day like that, it’s a good job we’re locked up, um self-isolating.

Today’s image is from one of our gardeners who has been taking a short course in garden design at Harlow Carr.  I’m no good at design things, so it will be interesting to see what she has come back with when all this nightmare ends.  Looking forward to it!

This is part of her garden.

Thanks for sharing!  It looks just ready for a Devon Cream Tea on a warm sunny day.  It will be interesting to see how it all progresses.

The Daffodil Path post – I’ve edited to add in the identification of the mystery plants, having had all the responses from my groups that I think I’m going to get.  :~))

Don’t forget to change those clocks…

For one of our gardeners, one allotment is never enough.  :~))

But it isn’t all cabbages and onions.  A well-kept bed of these may certainly be pleasing to the eye, but Saturday’s cheer-up picture from the allotment is more a breath of Spring.

You can surely smell these Hyacinths from here.  Lovely!

There is absolutely nothing like a daffodil to make you feel better!  And here’s a whole bunch.

Thanks to our gardener for a snapshot of her allotment!

For everyone under lockdown, wherever you are, stay safe and stay well.

I’ve got some lovely images from group members for these daily lockdown posts, but I thought that today, I would just take the chance to show you some pictures from my garden, or I won’t get round to doing it!  Here we go.

This is one of the Spring highlights – the Daffodil path.

It sits at the edge of the orchard, next to the parts of the garden that I’m trying to bring back from something that could hide a whole herd of tigers – you know what I mean!  The upper part is my new rose beds, with more and more anti-rabbit cages appearing.  The bit in the left foreground is the edge of my very new yin/yang bed – so new that it’s still waiting for some plants.

This is Prunus cerasifera, in the front garden.  It’s lost a few main branches in recent years, with storms and snow, and there’s a worrying bracket fungus on the trunk, but it’s magnificent for about 7 days every year.  It’s just gone over now, but there may be fruit in August.

There’s a handy little seat at the top of the back garden, made from a moribund plum.

A basket of sheep’s fleece hanging from one of my washing line posts – and yes, the birds are taking it, which is what it’s there for.  Ignore the bricks and the sheeting – there is more work to do!

I ordered some bulbs and such from a place that was new to me – an estate in Scotland.  My order included Crinum amoenum, which turns out to be out of stock, but they’ve substituted Crinum powellii.  I think these are bigger than the ones you get in the average garden centre!  They’re enormous, for £2 and some pennies each.

And, finally, here’s some Nature Table homework for members of the gardening groups (and anyone who wants to join in).  Here are two plants – the picture was taken yesterday – and they are plants that are commonly confused.

What are they?

To ease you into this impromptu homework thing, I’ll just say that Christmas meets Easter.  Let me know your answers.

Edited to add: The one on the left is a white Easter cactus, Hatiora gaertneri, cultivar unnamed.  On the right is a Christmas cactus, Schlumbergera ‘Novembro Brazil’.  For the sharp-eyed, ‘Novembro Brazil’ is a single plant in the pot, whereas the Easter cactus is one of about 6 cuttings, mixed Hatiora and Schlumbergera, which is why there are pads of different shapes.  They need repotting, but they’ll have to wait until the garden centres open again and I can buy some potting compost – which may be months.

 

A member of one of our groups returned a few days ago from the ends of the Earth – literally, and just in time before the international gates started clanging shut.  So, to remind us that there still are some exotic lands out there, here are some of her images.  These are from Kuala Lumpur.

This is the hotel lobby.

A little welcoming treat in the room – dragon fruit

Here’s the hotel

Beautiful building, part of the Museum of Islamic Art

And a mystery plant!  Does anyone know what this is?

Thanks for sharing these…

Primroses could be said to have a dual personality.  They are beautiful harbingers of Spring, and yet they are also symbols of sinful pleasure.  Shakespeare told us all about it in Macbeth, and also in Hamlet.

Ophelia:

I shall the effect of this good lesson keep, as watchman to my heart.  But, good my brother, Do not, as some ungrateful pastors do, Show me the steep and thorny way to heaven; Whiles, like a puff’d and reckless libertine, Himself the primrose path of dalliance treads, And recks not his own rede.

It was the favourite flower of statesman and prime minister Benjamin Disraeli, and the anniversary of his death in 1881 is marked by Primrose Day, April 19th.

So, let’s dare to tread the primrose path, and look at some lovely pictures sent to me by a group member.

And here’s an invitation.  Let’s have a Primrose Day on 19th April 2020.

 

 

This one looks like a Jack-in-the-Green, which has a ruff of small green leaves immediately beneath the flower.

Lovely!

So, the Government has announced that we’re all to be locked up.  No-one is arguing that decision – no-one in their right mind, that is – but in the first week of spring, it’s pretty depressing.  My gardening groups have been denied their last week of term, and we may well not meet again face-to-face until the autumn.

So, let’s have a treat – thank goodness for gardens!

One of our members sent me some images, and a week later, sent some more of the same plant.  Let’s take a look.

Here’s Clematis armandii ‘Apple Blossom’, last week.

And again, from last week:

Definitely looking lovely.

But, a week later, despite frosts and biting winds:

And again:

What a wonderful thing Spring is!

And another note of Spring:

There are lots of things to enjoy during our incarceration…