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.
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| 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 1st. 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.
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| 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.
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