Veg Plotting

My latest find just yards from our house is this intriguing candlesnuff fungus (aka Xylaria hypoxylon ) growing on a pile of logs by Hardenhuish Brook. It looks like little reindeer antlers adding a festive decoration on my walk into town, though the Woodland Trust tells me * it can be found year-round. I'm delighted to see it for the first time. Apparently the greyish white part contains the spores, so I hope the recent high winds have spread them out a bit as we have tons of fallen deciduous wood in need of a little decoration. Although it's the first time I've seen it, this fungus can crop up pretty much anywhere, from woodland through to urban parks. Have you spotted it in your neighbourhood? * = scroll down to item 7 on their list

It's the final day of this year's National Tree Week today and I want to celebrate the tree which stopped me in my tracks recently. At other times this has been a very big week for me, having organised and helped to plant thousands of trees in south Wales as part of an Earthwatch project in the 1990s. Those days feel like they're part of another life, but it's good to be reminded how important trees still are to me, simply by just being there.  The pictured tree is towards the end of my walk into town and I must have walked past it hundreds of times, but for once I saw it properly for the first time. It was just as the different combinations of colour from green through yellow and orange to red were at their finest which helped to catch my undivided attention. It's not the tallest specimen in the world, but wow, it really helps to soften the brutalist concrete of the shops behind it. Then I looked at the leaves more closely, and realised it's a liquidambar aka...

A number of these signs have popped up around Chippenham lately, which are heartening to see. Since the Town Council took over management of the town's parks and open spaces, it's clear they want to manage them in quite a different way to when they were in the hands of the County Council. In this case, it turns out a number of open spaces across town are designated in the same way as this one I found in the Donkey Field when I walked home recently. There's a map which shows where they are, together with information on the new management policy for these areas and the other open spaces they manage. I love the Donkey Field at this time of the year as it billows with oodles of wild meadow cranesbill aka Geranium pratense   flowers* I was concerned they were dying out as nettles have out competed them strongly in recent years, so it's good to see they've made a comeback this year. A few years ago Wiltshire Wildlife Trust did a survey and proposed a management plan sp...

The snowdrops are finally coming to the fore this week, does anyone else think they're later this year? Of course I could be comparing them to years when they've been early 😉 Early, late or on time, they're still most welcome. The photo above shows some of the snowdrops I planted over twenty years ago - the first time I'd tried my hand at guerrilla gardening. They form a welcome to the shared space on our part of the estate and it gives me a warm feeling when I hear local walkers saying how pretty they are. Last year I was gifted two huge carrier bags full of snowdrops in the green, so I've taken the opportunity for some experimental planting in gravel having seen some of mine have self seeded themselves there elsewhere in the garden. We have two narrow strips of gravel which border our front drive and the path which leads through to the back. I planted lots of small clumps there and I'm thrilled they've come back this year to welcome us home. The rest I ad...

Winter reminded me she's not quite dead when I stepped out this morning to photograph these daffodils. However, it's clear today that spring is beginning to win the battle of the seasons, with winter's snowdrops just beginning to look a little on the tired side and the daffodils definitely looking perky in the stiff breeze, even on a dull day like today. I can't remember A.A. Milne 's poem from childhood, but it must have been there somewhere as I often think of them as 'daffodowndillies' or 'dillies' instead of their real name. Perhaps mum read the poem to me when I crept onto her lap for a story, or maybe she gave me the name from her own childhood memories. Here's to spring and daffodowndillies, wherever you are x

Regular readers know how much I love the cowslips at the entrance to our estate. They usually bloom around now and I'm delighted they've increased in numbers consistently over the years. Here you can see the original roadside bank from which they've spread into the meadow below, and now they've also leapt across the road to the opposite verge. An estate setting like this is more unusual as they're more of a wildflower meadow favourite. I think we're seeing the results of some seed spreading which took place over 20 years ago when the road builders established this mini-meadow and wetland to cope with runoff from the A350 nearby.  Last week I learned the sight I love is becoming increasingly rare owing to habitat loss and the remaining populations may not be as healthy as they could be. As a result, Plantlife is asking for anyone who knows of a local patch of cowslips to conduct a short survey . I've just discovered cowslip plants have two different types; o...

  I love how looking for a suitable quotation for a photo and Muse Day can lead on to further investigation... "Bees do have a smell"... do they? Indeed they do, honeybees at least. It's all down to the pheromones they release. According to this article the alarm pheromone which prompts honeybees to attack and sting - sometimes en masse - when threatened is strong enough to be smelt by humans and is similar to bananas. I had to read this quote twice because I'd mentally added 'sense of' before smell. Another quick googling and I've learned their  sense of smell is far better than taste. According to the North Shropshire Beekeepers Association their sense of smell is far greater than dogs and some bees are used to detect landmines. Under normal circumstances this highly tuned sense is needed for pheromone detection and they have smell sensors in their mouths, antennae and the tips of their legs. Back to my photo... I had a wonderful time on Saturday wat...

I've been thinking about trees a lot lately: partly because it's National Tree Week currently, but mainly because they've featured prominently on my walks over the past few weeks. It's been a spectacular autumn and even now there are still a few leaves left providing a last shot of colour to brighten the first few days of winter. When they're gone, their structural forms will still be there, quietly doing their thing and helping to lift my mood. There is much to be grateful for in their sturdy presence. I've said before we're blessed with whoever selected the trees for our estate and I was pleased to find Chippenham now has its own Mr Treeman again. He's new to the job as the town council has only recently taken over the management of our open spaces from the county council and NAH found him surveying the trees by us earlier this week.  I hope he approves of the choice trees we have alongside the usual suspects. I made my own discovery a couple of mont...

The author may have been referring to perfume in his novel , but I've been musing on the very same thing lately whenever I walk past the pictured oleaster hedge (aka Eleagnus x ebbingei ) on my daily walk. Most of the time it barely merits a second glance as it looks pretty dowdy (in my view) which serves its purpose perfectly as a tough plant bordering a public footpath and requires little in the way of maintenance. All that has changed over the past few weeks due to its knockout scent which I can smell at least 50 yards away; from even further if the wind blows towards me. It brings back such a powerful memory as it's just like the smell of the suntan lotion mum used to rub into me on our summer holidays. It was a tropical scent which came out of a white bottle with an orange cap, I forget the brand, but ohhhhh the smell. One waft from that hedge and I'm back in Cornwall or The Gower , itching to wrest myself from mum's grasp and explore every pebble and rock pool t...

It's been almost impossible to go out for a walk lately and not get bonked on the head by a falling acorn or beech nut. The paths through the woods are strewn with the trees' bounty, far too much for the squirrels to hide away as is their usual wont. I'm sure they're as busy as they usually are; they just can't keep up with what's available. I was reminded recently of the term mast year , which describes exactly what we're experiencing this autumn. My reasoning on why this is happening is: We had a mild, wet winter so the trees had a good drink and had plenty of opportunity to prime themselves ready for spring without snow, frost and ice getting in the way Blossom came early, and for once it wasn't blown away by a winter storm or loosened by a frost It was a warm spring so the bees and other pollinators maximised their activities in the sunshine They were so efficient that even the later spring and early summer drought wasn't sufficient to bring frui...

"It's National Bulb Planting Week," announced cheerful BBC weather forecaster Sarah Lucas at Wisley this morning. I haven't managed to find out more about it since I came online, but I'm glad to add my own contribution today courtesy of Taylors bulbs and the HTA 's #MillionPlantingMoments campaign. Here I am this morning deciding where to plant my allium bulbs. This variety and colour's new to me and I hope it'll do as well for me as its purple cousins have served so reliably - you may remember I showed you my terrace bed stuffed with spring blooms in last month's Blooms Day . I've cleared out most of the bottom border and I'm slowly replanting this area as and when final bramble culling allows (it's proving to be persistent). I've decided to plant my bulbs amongst the pictured clump of Persicaria to provide some spring interest to this area. The other alliums have taught me they need to be placed amongst robust and/or later emer...

As promised last month , here's the latest wildflower addition I've found here at VP Gardens . We don't need to go far to see it because it's popped up at the edge of the front lawn, just a few feet away from our front door. There aren't that many orange wildflowers here in the UK in my experience*, so this time a simple Google of 'orange wildflower UK' came up with the instant answer. We're looking at Pilosella aurantiaca aka fox and cubs, the latter name is so much easier to remember! **   I guess it was only a matter of time before this plant arrived in my garden, as I've admired quite a few broad swathes of it on the grassed areas on our estate here in Chippenham. I now have a dilemma; whether to leave or not as it's invasive. The site linked to above has dire warnings about it, despite its attractive appearance: "This attractive member of the daisy family makes a wonderful display in summer when it appears on roadside verges and bank...

Spring is a prime time for blue flowers and my daily walks currently have several from the same plant family* lining the local footpaths. As I walked past the Donkey Field the other day, I overheard some children ask their parents** what the pictured blue flower was. It reminded me it's often mistaken for those other familial blues and this time was no different, as they said it was forget-me-not, instead of the green alkanet it actually is. As well as similar flowers, most of these plants are hairy in their nature, flower around the same time, and favour damp, shady places. Many of them are great for pollinators too, especially bees and this week's warm weather has certainly drawn them to these flowers. This makes it even more likely for these plants to be mistaken for each other and it's a great opportunity for me to put together a spotter's guide in case you find the same flowers on your outings. Staying with green alkanet, the key features which set it ...

Travelling across Europe by train from the UK often means a change of stations in Paris. On the way to Switzerland our walk from the Gare du Nord to Gare de l'Est was uneventful. The return walk was different: it held a surprise. There's a choice of routes available: turn right out of the station and an elegant staircase and a five minute walk is one option. Turn left and and the sign says it's a ten minute walk. In view of our suitcases, we chose to turn left. I'm glad we did because otherwise I would have missed Patric Blanc 's green wall on the Rue d'Alsace. It's turned a dreary alley way into something spectacular. At the time of installation (2008), it was the largest he'd designed, with a surface area of 1,500 square metres. In his book, The Vertical Garden , Patric Blanc says: "When Fanny Giraud and Michel Piloquet invited me to visit the project site, I thought I was dreaming: an endless dark alley linking the Gare de l'E...

A philosophy for life and a poem to mark the New Year. You can read the full poem here (note especially the last line). The scene is part of Jephson Gardens in Leamington Spa, taken on NAH's 65th birthday last September. May 2019 be filled with dreams and wonders for you and yours 😊

This picture taken by my friend Karen last Wednesday sums up our day at the Sir Harold Hillier Gardens perfectly. Warm sunshine, gorgeous autumn colour, plus time with my garden hero Roy Lancaster and gardening friends from the Garden Media Guild is day well spent in my book. No wonder I'm looking so happy. Roy worked at the garden for many years and had a huge fund of stories to tell. I reckon we could have followed him round the garden for a month and the supply would be far from exhausted. I think autumn's come early this year in terms of colour and this pictured swamp cypress agrees. It grabbed lots of attention from all garden visitors who passed it, some even taking advantage of strategically placed benches to wonder at that glory for longer. Interestingly there's another on the bank (just peeping through on the left hand side as you look at the photo) which is much taller and still green. It shows how different conditions affects what we see and w...

I always try and multi-task with events when I go to London, and a planned side trip to Covent Garden last week held a surprise in the shape of this green wall next to the tube station. It's a double wall, so if you take the street you can see to the right of the photo (where you can just about make out the tube station)... ... you'll find Regal House is all wrapped up for Christmas. There were problems with the Piccadilly line, so sadly I didn't have time to fully explore Covent Garden's seasonal delights as I was late for my first appointment. Instead you'll have to imagine the dramatic notes of Nessun Dorma sung by a lady opera singer, and take the link to see the wonderful mistletoe lights decking the market halls. My morning's destination held another surprise. This is a great idea for creating a funky and stylish interior green wall on a budget. It would make a great room divider, and the use of plants such as the ferns shown in the middle ...