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Monthly Musings from Moors Meadow Garden
Well summer is here, I know this because I have spent the day strimming so
it must be summer!
In between having my helmet firmly on my head with ear defenders to dull
the awful noise and face mask to stop the spattering of grass, soil and squashed
slugs (you should see the state of my clothes), I switch off the strimmer and
put it aside to enjoy the day. The sun is shining, birds are singing beautifully
and buds are bursting forth and everything seems to be full of the joys of
spring, including myself even though I have at least one more full day on the
strimmer to get the paths cut before the 1st. March. Why the
1st. March?
because that is the day I dust off and hang up the open
sign for the start of the season. That will be the garden open now until
30th September, of course we do close on every Wednesday and
Thursday, we do need a bit of time off for our sanity, no comments there
please!
There are plenty of signs of spring around the garden with both flora and
fauna for instance when I went down to the bottom if the garden yesterday there
was a hare cavorting around, I must remember to keep a watch as it is great to
see them boxing, and there are clumps of frog spawn in the Tawny Corner pool
though I havent seen any in the other pools yet.
I am very pleased to say that we can give the pruning saw a well earned
rest as we have done all, and more besides, that we intended though I expect if
things grow as much as they did last summer the machete will be needed for a
good hack to clear pathways, thats the penalty for planting everything so
close.
And talking of planting I do need to get the spade out for a few specimens
that we just couldnt resist adding to our collection, the hard job is deciding
where to put them, you would think with 7 acres that wouldnt be a problem but
Im afraid it is. That was another reason to give a good prune and lift the
canopy of some of the trees to allow more space for under-planting.
Plant of the month; Prinsepia sinensis
This rare and interesting deciduous shrub, along with P. uniflora and P.
utilis, is a member of the rose family and ranges from the Himalayas to northern
China and into Taiwan. The arching stems have peeling grey-brown bark and short
spines, the small 5 petalled flowers grow in the leaf axils along the entire
length of the stem followed by red fruits.
They are quite tough and can be grown in an open position in sun or part
shade in well drained soil and reach a height of 6ft. (1.8m) and can be
propagated from seed or cuttings.
Gardeners dictionary;
Axil - The armpit of the leaf, that is, the angle between the leaf base
and the stem, where there is usually a bud which may elongate to produce a
lateral branch, a flower, or a group of flowers.
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