The Wild-life Garden Chapter 5: June 25th

In theory there is to be a new chapter of this blog once a week. However, I am about to go off again for a week, and there is a lot happening just now, so (in imitation of wild nature if you like) this post is slightly out of time.

But who cares? Summer is the time of great blooming, and there is a lot happening.

Soon after we bought the house we built a cheap garage, an ugly concrete box. To cover it I bought a climbing rose, and seem to have hit the jackpot. The Rosa rubiginosa, Sweetbriar, grows and grows. In late June it is covered in beautiful pink flowers.

Sweetbriar

In theory it is enough of a thorny thicket to provide safe shelter for small birds. This does seem to be necessary, for our garden is a favourite hunting ground for neighbourhood cats. Certainly the thorns are ferocious.

One sweetbriar flower

The managed wild-flower bed is bright with campion. I mentioned the Silene dioica, Red Campion, when it first appeared. Now there is just as much Silene latifolia, White Campion.

White Campion

One of the highlights of the wild-flower meadow in these weeks before it is cut is the great variety of grasses. I thought that writing this blog would spur me on to identify them; but alas this turns out to be more than I can manage. There are too many species and sub-species for me. I am fairly sure that ours include Cat’s tail, Yorkshire fog, Couch, Rye grass and Vernal, but these identifications may be wrong, and there are many varieties of most of these.

Some of our grasses

What has now appeared at the base of the long grass is Trilolium repens, White clover. This is very popular with bees, so beware of walking barefoot. It usually appears on the mown lawn as well. The ordinary daisies are spectacular this year and make the lawn look special, not just green.

White clover

The result of not mowing a patch of lawn for three weeks

Despite the cats the bird-feeders are still much used, though just now they only attract the ordinary, local birds. In five minutes this morning I saw Passer domesticus, House sparrow; Columba livia, Feral pigeon; Columba palumbus, Wood pigeon; Turdus merula, Blackbird; Parus caeruleus, Blue tit; Parus ater, Coal tit; Carduelis carduelis, Goldfinch. There’s nothing there to write home about, or even a blog about. I hope that the birds missing from the list – robin and dunnock for example – have nested successfully and moved away. Let us hope more exciting things can be reported at migration time. But I get as much pleasure from our ordinary locals, and nothing beats the goldfinches for colour.

Most of the books on wild-life gardening promise butterfly-caterpillars if you grow Urtica dioica, nettles. I cannot say that that has been true for me. But they certainly support a wonderful range of invertebrates. They also, I think, look very beautiful when in flower.Those clusters of pale green bobbles would cost you a lot in a garden centre.

Nettles in flower

In the pond we seem to have tadpoles the size of small grapes. They prefer eating and growing to turning into frogs.Let us hope for more news of their development in the next chapter.

The Wild-life Garden Chapter 4: June 19th

Since I wrote the last chapter I have been lucky enough to spend a week in the Lake District. No need for a wild flower garden there; the verges were all a-sparkle with life and colour. I walked a lot of lanes and bridleways, between banks of blue speedwell, dazzling white stitchwort, golden buttercups, feathery pig-nuts, pale pink bistort and bright pink campion. On one day we went to Holker Hall, where the gardens include a magnificent wild flower meadow, where sorrel, plantains, more buttercups, clover and yellow rattle break up the green. I knew my garden could not match any of this, but it was exciting to see what had happened while I was away.

A recent study has shown how vital verges are for wild flowers and their attendant wild life. I have some strips in the garden that I call “verges” for want of a better description. They edge paths and are under walls and hedges. As far as possible they have any old mix of plants and are cut back if they get to be a nuisance. I am sure they provide hiding places for young frogs, and life-support systems for a range of invertebrates.

One of my so-called verges

Now the big Leucanthemum vulgare Ox-eye daisy, has started to flower. These plants spread rapidly and can be very invasive, but they are easily cut back where not wanted. They pop up all over then place, including the lawn. My wild-flower meadow was created by the simple technique of not cutting the grass. This year there is a magnificent show of Veronica chamaedrys, Germander Speedwell. Conventional gardeners go to great lengths to eliminate it from lawns, but its colour is welcomed by me, and by various bees. For the last few years we have had an unobtrusive orchid, but there is no sign of it yet. The Primula veris, Cowslip, is there this year but has not flowered. I see in my flower book that it thrives on lime, so maybe there is not enough of that. If we have some sun I’ll try and take a decent photo of the long grass.

Three flowers I was expecting to come out while I was away have done so. Barring accidents they should brighten up the garden for several weeks. One is Digitalis purpurea, Foxglove. These are biennials, so you get a seedling growing one year and a flowering spike the next.

Foxglove

For some reason they always seed where I don’t want them, but they do not seem to mind being moved. The second is Iris pseudacorus, Yellow Iris. I bought two plants of this when the pond was new and bare. Now they threaten to take the place over, and are very tough to cut out. But when they are in magnificent flower I don’t mind at all.

Yellow Iris

 In the shrubs on both sides are Lonicera periclymenum, Honeysuckle. I suppose they were planted by some previous owner long ago. Now they grow as wild, and their scent on a summer evening can be overwhelming.

Honeysuckle

I saw some in the hedgerows of the Lake District, so it is no surprise to find it blossoming here.

I am told that in some parts of the country it has been hot. Not here in Edinburgh; and the chilly wind has not made for good insect watching. Our grandson spotted a big bumblebee outside the window this afternoon, and said it was his favourite insect. I am trying to grow a few not-wild runner beans, and it was mildly irritating to find one eaten away within is plastic-bottle protector, and a large snail was easily removed to the verge. I reckon that when you can say “Look at my beautiful slugs” you can call yourself a wild gardener. (Couch grass will do as well.) Well, slugs seem to be kept in balance by the various predators. But the snails love it here, and have few enemies. Besides, they do look a lot prettier than my lettuces, or runner beans.

There will be no cuckoos or ring ouzels in my garden, I am sure. But I was woken by a dawn chorus at 3.55 am, so there is active bird life. In fact at times it can be a bit too active. I came home to find a mass of plucked pigeon feathers on the lawn. I doubt if this was the work of a cat - though the neighbourhood cats are my most unwelcome visitors. The plucked feathers made me suspect a sparrow hawk. I know there is occasionally one around, and this plucking is typical. Since no  one saw it, I cannot be certain.

I mentioned last time how frogs like to sit in the cool pond-water during hot weather. We did get one June-like day – June 10^th I think it was – and I saw four frogs in the muddy pond edge without really trying. There were probably several more concealed. Camouflage would be a good study if one was of an observant and scientific turn of mind. I am too lazy to do more than smell the honeysuckle and listen for the splash as frogs jump in.

The Wildlife Garden Chapter 3. June 8th

I began to make the wild garden was soon as we moved into the house, about twenty-five years ago. My inspiration was “How to Make a Wildlife Garden” by Chris Baines. Since then I’ve lent the book to I know not whom, and it has not returned. Paying some heed to his advice I wanted one of the areas to be a naturalised pond. In those days I was young enough to dig, and paid for a top-of-the-range butyl liner. In order to give the liner something smooth to lie on I put down old carpet from a skip, and sheets of thick cardboard, from old boxes (staples removed).

There came the great day when I filled it with a hose. It sat there like a water-supply pond on a building site, and the next day it had a frog sitting in it. Well since then it has had a long time to get naturalised. To become more overgrown, a bit smaller, and leaky round the edges. But it is still the most exciting feature of the wild garden, and here it is:

The only pond-flower in bloom at the moment is Ranunculus flammula, the Lesser Spearwort, but there should be plenty more to report as the summer advances. I bought half a dozen varieties when I was setting up the pond and most of them still flourish. Round the edge quite a marsh has developed, and at the moment some very beautiful Rumex acetosa, Common Sorrel. One often sees it in photos looking pretty coarse but this collection is most elegant, and certainly earns its place.

 I may have said already that I do particularly like plants that have just turned up and stay because they like it. This is a photo I took yesterday, and I think everything you see in it is an uninvited wanderer – including the hawthorn.

With so much growth now going on there is a fair amount of cutting back and selection to do this week. Some dominant weeds of human companionship would possibly take the place over if they were not rationed. This afternoon I pulled out maybe a square metre of Urtica dioica, Common Nettle. There are one or two other plants that apt to take over if allowed. This is not a great estate with real pastures and cart tracks and ruined byres and hay-fields and lakes; it is an attempt to create a feel for them in a medium-sized town garden, and have places where I can sit in the sun and pretend to be in the country.

The hope is that a big variety of plants will support a big variety of invertebrates which will, in their turn, help support larger animals. I saw an Antocharis cardomines, Orange tip butterfly yesterday, but the most conspicuous large insect just now is the bumble-bee. I have not yet spotted a nest, though I often have in previous years. There is certainly more than one variety around, and the commonest seem to be Bombus terrestris, the buff-tailed bumblebees. If you want to follow this up with some genuine expertise there are two outstanding new books available by Dave Goulson: “A Buzz in the Meadow” and “A Sting in the Tail”. When it comes to identifying insects I’m pretty hopeless. I decided to use Latin names in this blog not because I am readily familiar with them but because looking them up as I go along might move my knowledge of natural history forward a little.

One sort of bee we definitely have in residence is Osmia, Mason bees. I’m not sure precisely which species. But I was given a lovely little insect house to hang on the wall and last year several of the holes were plugged with carefully made mud. Now, over a year later, most of the old plugs are broken and more plugs have appeared. I hope they show up on the photo I took today.

One hopes that the pond will be a real bonus for wild-life. I hope we shall find it so over the year, as it has been in the past. Just at the moment it houses some very large tadpoles; I don’t know what trigger will cause them to grow legs and emerge as little frogs. Is it temperature or some chemical in the water? On the surface are a score of pond-skaters. There is often a frog or two around, though we have not yet had the sort of very hot day that sees them bathe thankfully in the cool water. My plan is to do some intensive pond-dipping and research, and report my findings to you. But this week I’ve had a debilitating summer cold, so that will have to wait. I guess the leeches and flatworms won’t go away.

One thing I have done is make a pond-dipping net. It is not as good as the lovely one my mother made for me nearly 60 years ago, but it should be functional. Below the muslin net, on coat-hanger wire and a bit of bamboo, is fixed a small jam-jar. Sweep the net through the water and even quite tiny life ends up swimming in the glass jar for observation. That’s the idea, anyhow. Watch this space.

The Wild-life Garden Chapter 2. June 1st

The wild garden changes every week, so my plan is to write a post every week. I may not keep it up, of course.

The flowers started all yellow. Then blue appeared. Now there's some pink. As a matter of fact there was Geranium robertianum, Herb Robert, in flower last week, but I forgot it. This does not pretend to be a scientific paper. I brought one plant from a Cumbrian roadside at least 20 years ago and now it is established as a prolific weed that pops up everywhere. Knowing it otherwise only in the wild, I am surprised how big it can grow in a cultivated border. Fortunately it is easy to root up, and to leave where it is welcome. There is a shingly patch behind the baby-bath pond that was supposed to be bought plants, but the dozen or so small, deep pink flowers, amongst their beautiful leaves, are one of the prettiest thing in the garden. I love the way they pop up in odd corners – for example in crack in a wall.

Herb Robert in the wall

The other bright pink just now is the first blooms of Silene dioica, the Red Campion. There is one small area that I call the managed wild flower bed, from which nettles and willow herb and docks are removed. I sowed a mixed pack of wild flower seeds a few years ago and the campions have done pretty well. There is one other plant newly in flower since last week, and that is Geum urbanum, Herb Bennet. It has its own pretty yellow, and flowers of a quite different shape to the other yellow ones. I suppose to many gardeners it counts as a weed, and it is very common in hedgerows. But one of the nice things about wild gardening is that if something looks good you leave it, unless it threatens to take over. A weed is just something that grows where you don't want it. Herb Bennet likes a bit of shade, which means it tends to find corners where it is happy.

I saw on “Springwatch” that in Dundee the first oak leaf came out on May 1^st. Our hedge is now in full leaf. It is not a boundary hedge – there is a good old Edinburgh wall – but I planted it on a bank next to about 20 feet of wall when we first moved in. I seem to remember reading that you can date a hedge by the number of species; ours will puzzle the archaeologists.

Oak in the hedge

I did buy some hawthorn, and the rowan. The beech and the oak were grown from seeds picked up in the wild. The hazel just turned up, and so did the elder, the ash, the sycamore, the raspberries and the brambles. The holly was given by a good friend, when the seedling turned up in his veg patch. Now it makes a living memorial. I am really bad at identifying trees by leaf-shape, so to have them daily in front of me keeps them familiar. Just now they are so fresh and yellow-green that they need no flowers to make them beautiful. The oak was laid flat when it grew far too tall – maybe 12 feet – and it is still doing well.

The hedge is supposed to be a haven for wild-life. Behind it, between it and the wall, is a pseudo ditch, where dead leaves and clippings have made about 30 years worth of detritus for creeping things to explore. I try to walk along the hedge every day, just to see the state of the buds and twigs and leaves.