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Quotes

Perennials are the ones that grow like weeds, biennials are the ones that die this year instead of next, and hardy annuals are the ones that never come up at all.
-Katherine Whitehorn

GBMD: September Plowing

autumn trio - garden gate and wildflowers “For seasons the walled meadow
south of the house built of its stone
grows up in shepherd’s purse and thistles
the weeds share April as a secret
finches disguised as summer earth
click the drying seeds
mice run over rags of parchment in August
the hare keeps looking up remembering
a hidden joy fills the songs of the cicadas Read More…»

Serendipity

old vicarage hotel gardens bridgwater

old vicarage hotel gardens Bridgwater

I dislike hotels as a rule and the uncertainty of what to expect when you arrive only adds to the bother. Whether it be hotel or cottage holiday break, I could not care less about wi-fi, tv, swimming pool or the like. I just want a clean, comfortable bed for the night in relatively quiet and pleasant surroundings. Thus last month when it came to staying away on a Tai Chi weekend I opted for the ‘Old Vicarage’ hotel, Bridgwater primarily because it had such lovely gardens. My guess was that any hotelier with such an obvious love for plants must surely be ‘mein host’. I was not far wrong either – neither the hotel nor the gardens disappointed. Read More…»

Blurring the boundaries

hedgerow boundaries

“A straight and tangled row of heavy green,
A hedge, till then unguessed, where loftier trees
Stood up amid a world of clustering things,
Brambles and slender vines and, stiffly held,
The heads of little, sturdy, hopeful trees…”1

Looking through the parched eyes of a city dweller,  the patterning of little green acres is indeed a wondrous sight. With an imaginary finger I like to trace the ribboned yardage of hedgerows that mark enclosures or point much further back in time, to parish boundaries and ancient landmarks.

We urbanites talk of living roofs and green walls as a novelty but a walk down any country road or lane reveals miles of parallel, permeable verticals  in a wild admixture of tree, shrub and plant.  How they all mange to reside side by side in such a tangled competition for space is one of nature’s marvels. Read More…»