The World in Miniature

15th February 2021

The last week has been very cold, with daytime temperatures barely above zero. This seems to have held up the emergence of spring flowers. Today was a lot warmer and I am hopeful that the garden will soon burst into colour. The birds have been in good voice today!

Everything seems to be in miniature this year. There are miniature crocuses coming out to join the irises.

The miniature daffodils which give a lovely display each year are also about to come into bloom.

I have a bit of tidying to do. It is a joy to potter in the garden removing the odd dead stem - such as on the wallflowers, which are about to start their long blooming season.

I have created some rockeries around the ponds over the years where I planted a few crocuses and other bulbs in the past few months. I am hoping for a good display this year.

I still find plants for which I have no knowledge of the origin.. One of these which has landed in a bed in the back garden gives indications of beecoming a hyacinth - we shall see. It looks as if the Head Gardener has been busy again!

 

Chris

Weeds and Wildflowers

8th February 2021

We have a sprinkling of snow this morning. It is bright and crisp - and it feels very cold! It is great weather to be inside looking out!

The crocuses are becoming more numerous.

The first celendine flowers are appearing. I like celedine - they burst out in spring, with their glossy yellow leaves. Many no doubt consider them to be another weed, although the same people will often delight in seeing them on a walk in a wood!

Laurel are not my favourite bushes - probably because mine have become trees and take a lot of light from back garden. They also drop leaves into my ponds. However they are developing buds and will soon be in flower - they also provide berries for the birds.

I think that a fresh lily pad is growing below the surface in my small pond - just to the right of the dying pad.

I continue to feed the birds. It is interesting how over time the population changes. Today they have left their footprints in the snow. My coal tits have been gone for a while but a pair of blackcaps have taken up residence. The female is particularly aggressive and attacks any small bird coming for food - she leaves the woopigeons in peace! The occasional golfinch visits the birdtable. Blue tits, great tits, dunnocks, blackbirds and magpies are regular visitors and my robin follows me around the garden whenever I do any gardening.

The hazel catkins are close to bursting, though I haven't yet seen any sign of the female flowers. The cyclamen flowers continue to develop in preparation of the hedgehog's re-awakening.

Till next week,

Chris

The Head Gardener

2nd February 2021

Two or three years back I bought a few pots and put a few plants in them. I was surprised and delighted to see a couple of  blue iris flowers in full bloom poking out of one pot.

Crocuses are doing their best to come into flower, but seem to be having a struggle - having succeeded some seem to be top heavy and fall over. I am confident that they will have greater success in the coming weeks.

I have just booked my first dose of coronavirus vaccine. Hopefully the vaccine will lead us out of the pandemic and life will look a bit

brighter. I hope that soon it will become available worldwide.

I have mentioned in past blogs that I am not responsible for introducing many of the plants in my garden. During the past week, in particular, I have been reflecting on Jesus the Head Gardener. Personally I am very comfortable with the role of Assistant Gardener. In my student days I spent many of the holidays working in the Parks Department of the Local Authority as an Assitant Gardener.- a job which I enjoyed immensely. My gardens now comprise a front garden, where I have recently attempted to create a bog garden and a back garden dominated by two ponds - they had a pretty covering of snow about a week ago.

A few years back an elm tree in the back garden died of Dutch Elm Disease. I talked to a plaaning officer who suggested I replaced it with another tree. For a small garden I thought my garden had plenty of trees, but after some thought, decided that it would be good to have a nut tree. A hazelnut seemed to fit the brief - being of a moderate size and a native variety.

I am afraid it often takes me a while to sort things out! I looked around local nurseries and online, but after a couple of years, I had still not bought my tree. One day looking around the back garden I spotted a couple of saplings - probably about two year's old. Yes! they where both hazelnut trees. My Head Gardener had taken immediate action, while I delayed!!

I have been looking around the garden for flowers, but ignored the catkins, presuming that they were something left from last year. I decided to look up hazelnut trees, becuse I wanted to cut some of the tall branches. I learned that the catkins are in fact the male flowers. A few days after they release their pollen small pink female flowers should form. There is a delay to stop cross pollination on the same tree. Now I know why he gave me two trees! I also learnt that hazelnut trees can live for about 80 years - if they are pollarded they can live for two or three hundred years!! I cut the tall stems without guilt! I now have plenty of sticks for my lilies!

At this time the mosses in my garden are doing very well. They are growing on exposed pond liner around the pond as well as rocks, concrete and wood. There is something relaxing about moss - it seems soft and almost cuddly! It also has a number of roles in the overall ecologicl plan.

I noticed some more fungi this week - another important plant. The more we look and investigate the more we realise how great a Head Gardener we have!

 

With love and prayers,

Chris

Dead Trees

Saturday 23rd January

Today was another sunny though cold day and tomorrow we are expecting a little snow.

It appears that the trees are dead. I recall tht some years ago some African children visited Cheltenham and were surprised by the dead trees - even more so when they were asked to help plnt more "dead" trees.

If we look closer however, buds and even leaves are already forming on the trees and bushes. 

In Africa it is the ground that becomes lifeless sand. There the transformation is quicker and more dramatic. A day or so after the first rains, green shoots appear and within a couple of weeks the sand is covered with a green carpet, much to the delight of the cattle and other wildlife! A desert is transformed into a tropical delight!

My garden is still largely asleep! A crocus is trying to come out and the cyclamen plants are acquiring more flowers - everything else is in a state of development. 

I had wondered why the birds didn't seem interested in the rosehips and other berries, but listening to Winterwatch I found out that some are far more attractive when they are allowed to become soft. I also learnt that ivy berries provide a lot of energy - mine have just turned a ripe black!

I prepared a special treat for the birds today made of crushed peanuts and various seeds bound in fat and daubed in tree crevices. Last time I did this numerous starlings suddenly appeared in the garden - a species that never usully visits. We will see!

Take care and keep safe.

Chris

Your Servant is Listening

Sunday 17th January 2021

One of today's readings at mass was the story of Samuel being called by God. I believe that prayer is about listening rather than speaking or doing. I had been fortunate in having several opportunities to spend a week or so in silence - a time to observe, reflect and listen, with every sense. We spend our lives deciding what we want and rarely does it turn out as we hope. I have been anticipating the bursting forth of new life in my garden. it will happen, but in God's own time! The snowdrop - or is it a crocus - has become two but still no proper flowers.

In the meantime maybe I should listen! The birds have been in good voice in recent days. A little sunshine seems to encourage them. I am finding cyclamen plants appearing in new places.

I went for a walk on Friday and found snowdrops in a local park the photos are out of focus, but one day the full spledour will shine through.

I passed St. Gregory's church which I haven't entered since March and the heather was in bloom.

I find that pottering in the garden allows me to listen with my eyes, as well as ears and all other senses. For me this is prayer.

Today the sun is shining and the birds are singing - explore , you

never know wants treat is in store - enjoy!

With love and prayers,

Chris

Almost a Snowdrop?

8th January

Yes, we are so close!! There is a new bud. It could be the first snowdrop and will mark the start of the flowering season of 2021. It should be in flower tomorrow. 

 

When I get out into the garden I find my spirits lift. The weather has been very cold during the past week, but I am excited at getting out and tidying the garden a little. I lways find some surprises when I crawl around pulling a weed or two and removing fallen twigs and leaves.

I have pots around the garden, but the plants they contain have not been planted by me. I always seem to have a pot with a buddlia ready to be passed on to friends. as with the grden I am reluctant to pull out weeds in case they turn out to be wild flowers!

Yesterday we took a 96 year old lady for her first dose of the COVID vaccine. Each dose is a step forward and this should be reflected by colour in the garden.

I only have a few photos this week - most I should reject because they are unclear, out of focus or should how messiness of the garden, but I have decided to show them. Perhaps they will encourage you because you are sure to able to do better.

I took some photos at the bird feeder using the trail camera. Even here the variety of birds caught on camera was small. During the week I have had goldfinches, long tailed tits and a wren who took advantage of the fact that the pond was very full to have a drink, but none appeared for their photo call!!

I did have a squirrel visit. He (or maybe she) looks like they have been in a fight because there is a significant gauge taken from her fur. It is unusual for me to be able to identify a particular animal. - Maybe I can observe her over the next few weeks.

The cyclamen is throwing out more flowers and the snapdragon is still in full bloom, despite Gardeners World telling me that it should stop flowering in October! No one has told mine!

Bulbs keep popping up everywhere. It is good to see the development each week and I look forward to the flowers. My front garden is usually full of colour in Spring - I m hoping for a spectcular show this year.

Keep Safe, with love and prayers,

Chris

Goodbye 2020

31st December 2020

The last day of 2020 - a year like no other I have known in my 71 years.

It has been cold over the past few days. We had a little snow - enough in the Cotswolds for my daughter and family to do some sledging.

Today there is a frost bringing a whiteness to the ferns.

The good news is that the first vaccine is being given and the second - the Oxford, Astra Zenica vaccine has been approved and will begin to be rolled out next week. This latest vaccine is being provided at cost price to the poorer countries and they aim to produce three billion doses by the end of 2021.

I had expected to encounter some new flowers this week, but I have seen very little. The cyclamen are slowly coming into flower. The bulbs however are intriguing. There are clusters that could be lillies - but maybe not! In the front garden bulbs are pushing through everywhere. I am expecting the flowers to show their faces any day soon and I look forward to a brighter future.

There are some large leaved shoots pushing through the other plants in a small flower bed in the back garden - maybe tulips! I will follow these shoots to see how they develop.

I was able to meet with relatives from Ireland, Australia and Tasmania as well as the UK in one of my Zoom meetings. It was good to catch up with people after many years and meet some I haven't seen before. It made my Christmas a bit special and more memorable than it might otherwise have been. I hope that we will keep in contact rather more in the future.

I watched part of a Christmas lecture yesterday focussing on Climate Change, which I found very informative. It is clear that we can overcome this crisis. Anaerobic digesters and hydrogen where discussed as sources of clean electricity, among other things. It is clear that working together we could have a wonderful world. The production of the vaccines is proof of what is possible with the will and resources.

My friend Jennipher rang me a few days ago to say that she wanted to go to Victori Falls with her family on New Year's Day. In 2014 my wife and granddaughter came to see me in Zambia. At the end of their visit we went to Victoria Falls and we took Jennipher. It is such a shame that most Zambian people never get the opportunity to visit the Falls. So I was delighted to enable Jennipher and her family to have a memorable day out. (In fact they will travel by train - a 10 hour journey each way! - so it will be best part of a 3 day trip).

 

Wishing you much joy in 2021.

Chris