ruminate vb. to chew (the cud)
Not a lot happens in an English garden in January. What was happening a week ago is still happening, and it wasn't much. I could do with a short run of weeks without Saturdays, just skip from Friday to Sunday, but it's not going to happen. It's only six things, how difficult could it possibly…
One week into a new year and if there was a notion that a new year should feel like an improvement, it's passed. January is always going to be like that, it's a stupid month to start a new year with. Looking for an upside, I can tell you that for the seven years we've…
I managed to make a start on clearing up the garden in the week and there are signs of life amongst the carnage. In fact, I could have done a six based on what is flowering now, on the last day of the year. Four Camellias, Muscari and Cyclamen coum. However, I'm going to save…
Christmas Eve. I thought it was going to rain all week but it wasn't so bad. It's the USA that's being hammered now, in a fashion that puts our recent episode in perspective. My thoughts are with you guys, hope you don't get hit too hard and that it doesn't spoil Christmas. The garden is…
It looks like it's going to warm up through the day and be frost free tonight, so perhaps the best thing is to forget the past week and look only forward. It's been very cold, the longest sustained cold spell for years, and will have done some damage. How much damage will not become become…
Brrr! I'm not keen on this. Sue's the sensible one, on her way to Australia. I've had a full-on Camellia week; Leonardslee and Nymans gardens on Monday, looking at camellias. Tuesday I was taking part in a round table review of AGM's (Award of Garden Merit) for autumn flowering camellias at Wisley. Wednesday evening I…
Into December, meteorological winter and actual, frost on the ground winter. I don't know what we will get, temperature forecasts are never very reliable and while there's not much to choose between 30°C and 34°C, there is a world of difference between -2°C and +2°C. Plants in the garden have had it cushy of late,…
The wine it was drunk, the ship it was sunk,The shot it was dead, all the sorrows were drowned.The birds they were clouds, the brides and the shroudsAnd as we drew south the mist it came down. Late November. Sandy Denny. Ah, they don't make 'em like that any more. A fragment of the soundtrack…
There's a demon out there, lounging atop his fluffy white cloud, watching and waiting. I walk out the door, he turns on the tap; I go back in, he turns it off again. Do I thwart his childish games by donning waterproofs and staying out, or by staying in until he gets bored and goes…
I had a bit of a tidy up in my greenhouse, sorting out my yound plants of Begonia 'Torsa'. Collected a lot of bulbils. Then I went round the plants of it I have in the garden and collected some more. I ended up with quite a lot, 473 to be precise. Growild Nursery had…
garden ruminations 