Thursday 29 November 2007

Leaves, glorious leaves.


Time to introduce you to Nella. This was taken last week, think she got bored with leaf clearing and made herself comfortable on a pile in the corner! My Dad came round to help me. We have lots of trees, so therefore lots of leaves. We bagged 15 large sacks, which I shall let rot down into that lovely smelly leaf mould. Every true gardeners dream. Dads 80 and a grand old chap, I only have to ask for help and he's there. Thanks Dad. My little grand daughter came yesterday and we tried to catch the last of the leaves floating down from an old oak. It was fun, we didn't catch any but we did laugh lots. Thanks my darling for making Nanna smile. Do leave some of your leaves around for the little creatures to hide under. Quote: What was paradise but a garden.

Friday 23 November 2007

My Sacred Tree


This old apple tree is a blenheim orange, a very old variety. It is the only one left of what used to be an orchard. The rest were blown down in the great storm. It has had many birds nest in her old and weary hollows including the lesser spotted woodpecker. Her trunk is hollow. I found this out one day when my little grandson stayed. There is a hole at the base of the tree, he layed down on his tummy to see what was there. "Nanna sky". Of course I then layed down on my tummy and sure enough he was right. We have bats in our loft in summer and I believe they roost in the trunk in winter. This lovely tree is covered in blossom in spring and fruits like an angel. You can cook or just munch on the apples straight from her. If ever she goes the way of the other trees that stood beside her I have always said, that she stays were she falls. She is my sacred tree. Quote: Be the change you want to see in the world.

Tuesday 13 November 2007

My daily visitors


We have several large ponds in the area so we often have visits from ducks etc to the garden. In the hot and long summer of 2006 the mummy moorhen would bring her chicks to feed everyday. Once they had grown quite large she became quite possessive of the food as you can see from the photo. All chicks survived and went their different ways and I am sorry to say none have visited since! It has been a hard few days in the garden this week. We have a railway that runs along the back of the garden and one Sunday morning men arrived and felled 10 large oaks that stood the other side of our fencing. I was absolutely devastated and this week have decided to prepare the ground and plant more trees to compensate for the huge loss of the oaks. In this day and age when the environment is top of the agenda I fail to see how these people can justify felling these beautiful old trees. They were not unstable and as far as I could see were causing no problem at all. My garden has been full of dead and dying ladybirds which were probably overwintering in them. Thank you network rail for making me feel absolutely miserable!

Thursday 8 November 2007

Beautiful Butterflies.


Took this photograph about two years ago, I believe it to be the Argus Brown. It stayed on the butterfly bush for ages. Unfortunately I have never seen another one in the garden. I get quite a few common blues though, they are so pretty and fragfile looking. Due to the rainy summer it has been a bad year for bees and butterflies. Has anyone else found that numbers are down? I have put several butterfly boxes up around the garden.....don't really know if they help or not. Also have a large patch of stinging nettles, so I do get a lot of peacock and red admirals. In fact I saw a peacock butterfly on the patio two days ago. It was a bright sunny day so that is what brought him out. Its quite remarkable how something so small can bring a smile to your face.
Quote: Life begins the day you start a garden. Chinese Proverb.