A Bowl of Flowers

One of the joys of having a garden is being able to bring some flowers indoors. This simple arrangement consists of Sweet Pea, Purple Loosestrife, wild Yarrow and Achillea 'Summer Berries'.

This is Buckwheat, a useful and very attractive plant. If you double-click the photograph you can see each individual floret in detail. Seeing it close up, it reminds me of apple blossom. Buckwheat has many uses including feed for livestock, food for humans, honey crop, weed control and green manure.

Buckwheat is not a true cereal but is related to sorrels and docks and, in my opinion, is as pretty a plant as any other in the garden. I've grown it as groundcover previously, to protect the soil from being leached of its precious minerals by the rain. Next Spring I want to grow lots more just because of its pretty flowers, which are also of great benefit to bees because of its long flowering season.

This is Achillea 'Summer Berries', which produces flowers in various shades of pink. It's extremely pretty and looks wonderful grown en masse.

And here is the common Yarrow, one of my favourite wildflowers.

Folklore tells us that if some Yarrow is sown up in a little pouch and placed beneath the pillow, you would dream of your future husband/wife. You also have to recite the following charm before dozing off to sleep:

Thou pretty herb of Venus tree
Thy true name be Yarrow
Now who my bosom friend must be
Pray tell thou me tomorrow.

Beverley Nichols

One of my favourite writers is Beverley Nichols (1898-1983), author, pianist, playwright and socialite. He wrote books on a diverse range of subjects including politics, travel, religion, detective mysteries, children's novels, his cats and autobiographies.

I particularly enjoyed 'Father Figure' in which he freely confesses to attempting to murder his alcoholic father several times, all of which failed. Although he describes the fear that his father inflicted upon the family, written in Nichols's own style, it becomes a hilarious and heartwarming read. Believe me! :O)

It's his books that he wrote about his house, garden and nature that I enjoy the most however. Today, I'm not sure how many people remember or know about the writing of Beverley Nichols. If you enjoy reading uplifting books, sprinkled with lots of humour throughout that leave you feeling sorry when you've read the last page but feeling good, then you should seek out his novels. Luckily that wont be too difficult as Timber Press are offering re-prints of many of Beverley Nichols's books. Here's a direct link to those available.


Here also is an excerpt from his book, 'Laughter On The Stairs'.

"This fourth spring I went bird's-nesting, by which I do not mean crashing like a bison through the bushes, wrecking other people's houses. It was a question of watching, and listening, and, when the time came, of standing and staring. For the miracle of a bird's nest is almost the greatest miracle of all. Think of it like this....... An aery meeting, a flutter of feathers and then, before you know where you are, a beautiful house, perched in the branches of a tree.

That is only the beginning of it. Shortly, on the floor of the house, exquisite ornaments are deposited by unseen hands. These ornaments are light blue, or pale green, or speckled like a fritillary; they are oval in shape, and fashioned from the most delicate, fragile porcelain.

Even then the miracle has only just begun. For each of these ornaments contains music. Liquid music, sleeping music, disguised in the form of two magic fluids, one gold and one white. Unwritten music, as yet, but music which one day will echo through the woods like distant flutes.

These ornaments are filled with unwritten music. It is all there, 'tuning up'. There is the white and there is the yolk, and between the two of them there will one day be a bird, with a swelling throat and an eager heart, singing for you and me.

You may tell me that you could rhapsodizde, in the same way, about the embryo of a baby. Perhaps you could. I couldn't. Having babies is in no way to be compared with depositing delicate pieces of porcelain in the branches of cherry trees. It is a far less decorative process. Whether it is a more useful one is open to question."

'Laughter On The Stairs', pages 151, 152




To find out more about Beverley Nichols, go here.
Timber Press publish books about gardening, ornamental and edible plants, garden design, sustainability, and natural history. For their UK website, go here.
For their Oregon USA website, go here.

"To be overcome by the fragrance of flowers is a delectable form of defeat."

Beverley Nichols

The best laid plans o' mice and men.......

Last year I grew some celery, but it was tough as old boots..... not even Benji, our canine composter, would eat it. I liked the colour and form of the leaves though, so I kept one plant back and left it to grow at will in an old half-barrel.

Here it is with its dainty pretty flowers.

During a quick tidy-up in the greenhouse last Summer, I came across some lily bulbs. I always grew the lilies in containers but because of the time it takes to water them, I decided to cut down on containers. Having come across the discarded bulbs I thought it was a shame to leave them there, so I planted them in the nearest little plot of ground at the side of the greenhouse. I'm so glad I did. They're one of the highlights in the garden this Summer. Their roots not being confined to a pot (and a couple of liquid feeds), allowed them to grow almost to the height of the greenhouse! I took this photo early in the morning and the sun was shining on them making them seem paler than they are. The colour is more intense.

Here's another unplanned success. We were given this rose some years ago but everywhere was crammed full of plants. The only place available was down at the bottom of the garden where all the prunings and green 'waste' go. Being a rambling rose, I thought it would grow along the top of the fence amongst the other plants. Instead it scrambled its way through the Weeping Willow tree, reaching for the sunlight. Each Summer I think it wont survive and each year I'm proved wrong as it grows more beautiful than ever.

This little corner of the garden has been planned! It's a shady plot where the Weeping Silver Birch tree grows and behind it, ivy has almost covered the old stone shed. I've underplanted the tree with fern and foxgloves and some smaller woodland flowers. The birds like this part of the garden too, as it provides them with a sheltered place of protection. This is where all the baby blackbirds have perched throughout Spring and Summer, waiting for mum to bring them their meals.

The Millenium Bugs at Durham Botanic Gardens..... and 13 year old daughter. :)

This photograph has nothing at all to do with this post. :O) It's for John of Sedgdunum Warbler.

.........down at the bottom of the garden.

We've got a bees nest in our garden shed...... not in the potting shed thank goodness, but one of the others at the bottom of the garden. I've been doing a bit of tidying up down there - nothing major, just so we can walk in a straight line without stepping over obstacles - and I noticed all these lovely little bees periodically crawling through the gap under the door of the shed.

Bombus pratorum, the universal pollinator

What gorgeous bees... with orange bottoms. I'd never seen bees like this before so after typing 'orange-bottomed bee' into Google I discovered that this species is called Bombus pratorum, the Early Bumblebee. As for not having seen this kind of bee, I read that it is our universal pollinator, pollinating well over 140 different kinds of flowers. You can read more about Bombus and see some beautiful photographs by going here.

Although I sometimes go into the shed, for a bamboo cane or a seedtray, etc., I haven't explored the corner where I suspect the nest is, and it's too dark to see as ivy has totally covered the only window. I remember putting a bag of shredded paper there some time ago, which is now well-hidden behind various discarded garden pots so that's probably where they are.

A nest of Bombus pratorum

'Our' bees are welcome to stay in the garden shed for as long as they like. I enjoy watching them coming and going from under the door and they take no notice of me at all, but fly round me and off on to the more important job of collecting pollen.

I don't think they'll be here for much longer though, as I've read that bees die off round about Autumn. Just when I was missing the robins, Mother Nature sent me bees. I wonder what she'll send next.

(photographs courtesy of the worldwide web)

Naming names

Wouldn't it be wonderful to be able to name a plant after anyone we wanted to. Here are my choices.

Doctor Albert Schweitzer (1875-1965)

Doctor Schweitzer was a physician, humanitarian, theologian and musician who started a hospital in Africa to treat African natives. He won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1952 for his efforts in the campaign against nuclear weapons. His philosophy in life was one of compassion towards all life, human and non-human species. He is amongst the greatest of role models. If I could name a plant after Doctor Schweitzer, it would be a Bamboo which, in China, is considered to be 'a gentleman with perfect virtues'. It has the perfect balance of grace and strength. To find out more about Doctor Albert Schweitzer, go here.

'At times our own light goes out and is rekindled by a spark from another person. Each of us has cause to think with deep gratitude of those who have lighted the flame within us'. (Albert Schweitzer)

Sophia Magdalena Scholl (1921-1943)

Sophie Scholl was a young German student who, along with her brother Hans, was a member of a non-violent resistance group in Nazi Germany. The group, horrified at hearing accounts of soldiers' behaviour at the Front and of the mass killings of Jews, began to compose and distribute anti-war leaflets. Sophie and Hans were eventually caught distributing leaflets at the Univesity of Munich. Subsequently they, and other members of the group, were executed. Sophie was a member of the resistance group, The White Rose, but I would name a yellow rose after her. It signifies her last comment and, in floral terms, bears the meaning 'I care'.... which she certainly did. To learn more about Sophie Scholl, go here.

"Such a fine, sunny day, and I have to go," she continued, "but what does my death matter, if through us thousands of people are awakened and stirred to action?" (Sophie Scholl just before her execution)

Christopher Reeve (1952-2004)

When the name Christopher Reeve is mentioned, the fictional character of Superman springs to mind. Christopher Reeve was not only Superman in the world of films but in real life also. After suffering a spinal cord injury during a horse-riding accident, he became a wonderful ambassador for the funding of stem cell research and he never lost hope that a cure would be found.

Of Christopher Reeve, UC Irvine said, "In the years following his injury, Christopher did more to promote research on spinal cord injury and other neurological disorders than any other person before or since." The two words that describe Christopher Reeve to me are dignity and hope, so his special flower would be the dahlia since that is what it signifies. The Superman colours of blue and red would be ideal, but I'm not sure that anyone has bred a dahlia with blue in it yet. :D To find out more about Christopher Reeve, go here.

"Don't give up. Don't lose hope. Don't sell out." (Christopher Reeve)

Jane Tomlinson (1964-2007

Jane Tomlinson was diagnosed with terminal cancer in 1991. Amazingly, over the next six years, she went on to complete the London Marathon three times, the London Triathlon twice, The New York Marathon once and cycled across Europe and the United States. She raised £1.85 million for charity and since her death, the charity she founded has announced a new fundraising target of £5 million. I would name a gladiolus after Jane Tomlinson as this is the flower that symbolizes strength of character, which Jane had in abundance. To learn more about Jane Tomlinson, go here.

Thank goodness the world is full of good people and heroes! Who, apart from family members, would you like to name a flower after?