The first hoarfrost in the garden is always the most beautiful, even if it signals the creeping hand of winter. Although we have had some icy nights the weather hasn’t lived up to the more alarmist predictions published in the popular press. The mildness of the season means that I still have the occasional rose coming in to bloom in my garden, and the tub of Pelargoniums by my back door remains pretty colourful. So if, like me, you haven’t [...]
Commonly known as the Dogwood the Cornus is a group of botanically diverse plants with a lot of year round interest to add to any planting design. Planted on mass they can be used to give winter and spring interest with their vivid stem colour. There are two species which are alba and sibirica. Dogwood are vigorous growing shrubs reaching 4 to 6 foot in high depending on variety. Dogwoods prefer a sunny position in moisture retentive soils. The second year after planting [...]
STEP INTO THEIR CLAWS If you’re a bird in winter these are your problems - there’s hardly any food about; your water supply becomes a block of ice; there are less places to hide as half the leaves have dropped and your predators are even hungrier; oh, and it’s minus degrees and all you’ve got to keep warm in is your own body fat - which means you’ve got to find food, expose yourself to predators, keep near to your flock, [...]
