When I was at horticultural college, one of my tutors was a keen beersman. His arboriculture lectures would include examples of the trees we were studying, pointing out their proximity to a hostelry. Along the road from The Merchants Arms are some fine examples of Betula utilis var. jacquemontii, outside The Highbury Vaults a splendid Davidia involucrata and so on. This weekend I returned to the city that I had once called home and, with an old friend, walked the streets following a set route which highlighted little known points of interest. It is strange how you don’t really “see” a place until you return and what I “saw”, amongst other things, was an amazing variety of street trees. Not young trees planted recently in a flurry of urban regeneration, but trees that had been insitu for decades. Blue cedars, ancient oaks, golden ginkos, and pendulous birches. This Catalpa bignonoides, the Indian Bean Tree, replete with beans, caught my eye just before we headed off to the location of a 17th century massacre and a framed Banksy. This was swiftly followed by a trip to one of the aforementioned hostelries, an education is indeed a wonderful thing.
Red and Green ….
…. should never be seen. Or so they say, actually I think it looks quite effective!
Jekyll and Hyde
No one’s perfect, few plants are either. This is Rhus typhina or the Stag’s Horn Sumach, native of North America. With stunning autumn colour, velour stems and pyramids of crimson fruit, this is its time to shine, the time we are reminded why we love this small tree. The vigourous rhizomes that pop up mini-me’s about the garden with annoying reliability are almost forgiven. Almost.
Lagging Behind
Late flowerers are most welcome in the garden, their stubborn presence temporarily holding back the inevitable march of winter. Of course early, mid and continual blooms are not to be sniffed at, but at this time of the year it is not the stalwarts or the eager beavers but the loiterers that are celebrated. This apricot abutilon with its sheath of dusky pink is in no rush to shut down, coddled against the storage heater bricks of the Round House.
Carpobrotus edulis – Hottentot Fig
Just to prove the maxim “right plant, right place” this Carpobrotus edulis is thriving on the North Devon dunes. The Hottentot Fig’s ability to grow in places that would appear inhospitable to the majority of sensible flora has allowed it to become invasive in places as far reaching as New Zealand and the Mediterranean. It was introduced to these innocent lands by us clever folk to do what it does so well, stablilising soils. It didn’t take long for us to switch allegiance and chastised the “thug” for getting a little over exuberant. Another case of man not being quite so smart has he thought he was. Notwithstanding I am still impressed by its success, in the same way that you would a cunning diamond hoist or an adept pickpocket. Still the lemon flowers gave my heart a zing and its tolerance to these seemingly sterile conditions, my admiration. It is after all only doing what everyone is trying to do, survive, and in doing that it achieves what we often fail to do, look pretty.
Mono Part Four – Hero
Right hand woman, voice of reason, human valium, comfort blanket, cake magician, horticultural psychiatrist, partner in crime, patience in human form, giggle monitor, my lovely friend, Hero.
Mono Part Three – Shadow Dance
Earlier today myself and Hero were asked by Superbaz to walk across the lawn on the up stripes and back on the down stripes. After we stopped laughing at his impertinence I gave him a Chinese burn. He will miss me so much.
Mono Part Two – Fern
Day Two of my black and white series features one of my favourite ferns, Woodwardia radicans or the European Chain Fern. This striking evergreen is called the Chain Fern as it very cunningly forms mini root balls at the end of each frond, as the tip touches the ground they root themselves into the soil and so continue the chain. An ingenious method of moving around the forest and such a lovely shade of purple ……..
Monochrome Set
I have been challenged to take some black and white photographs. Never one to turn down a dare, unless it involves wing walking or baked beans, I thought it might be fun to give it a go. So I adjusted my faithful “point and shoot” to Monochrome Magic (or some such setting) and ventured forth into my multi-chrome world. It was then that I realised just how much colour dominates my life, it is the first thing I notice, what draws my eye and holds my attention. I had to stop thinking about hues and radiance and start thinking about contrast, light and shade, form. So I am going to make a week of it. No cerise or burnt orange, no baby pinks, violent violets or lemon yellows. Just black, white and all the grey stuff in between. Should be interesting; or incredibly boring.
Gaultheria mucronata
Plump, pink, perfect! Like a middle aged Barbie.
Off The Edge Gardening 