Today is the start of the Wildlife Trust’s ‘30 Days Wild’, an environmental initiative to encourage folk to commit Random Acts of Wildness during the month of June. Here are some of the activities they suggest you try...
...and I began the month by sowing a packet of wildflower seeds. I sowed them in a large pot, because some of the contents of the seed packet are NOT what I would like to see released into the wild of my garden. Especially ones like buttercups which are one of my constant battle weed enemies...I mean, plants. By sowing the wildflowers in a pot my plan is to see what comes up then cherry pick what goes into the garden. That’s the plan anyway. And we all know what Nature thinks of a plan. But I can at least try.
I had a pootle around the home estate to see what flowers are now in bloom, given that a week ago they were all hiding from the cold, rain, wind and frost but now we’ve had a few days of sunshine, dare I say...Summer??!! Hurrah!!! And this is what I found:
...yellow poppies amongst the lemon balm. I always let poppies stay. They are welcome wherever they grow no matter how inconvenient...
...purple things. No idea what the purple thistle doo-dahs are called but I do know that I can pull them up at the end of their season and they come back without any help whatsoever the following year. The bottom ones are aquilegia - these I have a constant battle with because they seed EVERYWHERE. But I let them stay within their allotted beds because they are cheerful...
...pink things : more aquilegia and an alpine which I thought was dead but clearly just hibernating before revealing its full and glorious beauty!
A rhododendron. It was tiny and half dead when we arrived at Damson Cottage, but it has come on very well the last two years so I shall forgive it its hideous peach colour...
Elderflower and hawthorn. We have a lot of both. They render the trees and hedges very bridal in appearance...
Looking up into the wisteria which has finally burst into life when I feared the cold weather wouldn’t allow it blossom before the leaves appeared. The wisteria is three weeks later than it was last year. Climate change, eh?
White daisy stuff. No idea of the name, but it’s very pretty and makes me smile...
A ladybird on the leftover flowers of the rosemary which is growing far too big and rangy for its own good. I think I ought to replace it - the rosemary, not the ladybird - but can’t quite bring myself to do so because it keeps pretending to be dead, then comes back with a vengeance. I hope to emulate this rosemary when my death bed time comes. Relatives beware...
And finally, the first blooms of ‘Wild Eldric’ the vicious bastard rose hedge at the front of the house. It’s beautiful, with a most delicious scent, but I know it will rip my arms to shreds come pruning time.
More flowers than I thought! I enjoyed my flower pootle enormously, and I hope you did, too.
Go on - plant some flowers!
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