Suddenly it has been so warm and sunny that the garden is changing by the day. As one of my favourite poems on spring begins:
“Nothing is so beautiful as spring,
When weeds in wheels shoot long and lovely and lush” (Gerard Manley Hopkins)
There certainly is no shortage of lush growth – weeds if you insist. As a matter of fact I do not let everything grow at random. I have already weeded out a lot of Great Willowherb (
Epilobium hirsutum) and tried to remove grass from the managed wildflower bed. The willowherb is known as fireweed, because shoots from its underground runners are often the first thing to reappear on burnt ground. A big clump in a country lane can look magnificent. In a garden they will take over if allowed. I can't resist letting one or two flower in late summer, but I pay for it the following spring.
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| Water-lily leaves |
In the pond the tadpoles are growing and multiplying. Also in the pond are lovely unfurling leaves of White Waterlily (
Nymphaea alba). I bought one small plant about twenty years ago. Now it threatens to take the pond over.
On Wednesday night the conditions were perfect for going out after dark with a torch. I ought to do it more often. This time I saw the two things I hoped for. In the pond was a newt – I'm fairly sure the ones in our garden are Palmate Newts (
Triturus helveticus). On the compost heap were some magnificent Great Grey Slugs (
Limax maximus). You may well have some in your garden and not know it, for they only come out at night. They eat decaying vegetable matter, so they do no harm to your plants.
I have now seen a Queen Wasp (
Vespula vulgaris). I assume it was a Common, but they can only be distinguished from other common wasps by studying their facial features, which I was not in a position to do. If she tries to build a nest on a window frame, or where the children play, I shall knock it off; but if it is up a tree or a roof that's fine. They are wonderful creatures and the chances of getting stung, unless you provoke them, are not great. One year there was a nest in the compost heap. That was a nuisance.
Green alkanet (
Pentaglottis sempervirens) has to be rooted out almost everywhere in the garden, it is so tough and prolific. But it does have lovely blue flowers in the right places, and is welcomed by pollinators.
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| More tadpoles |
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| Green Alkanet and Bumble bee |
Lesser celandines (
Ranunculus ficaria) can also be a pest if they get established in a border. But if you have a wild area at the base of a hedge, what better in
spring.
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| Lesser Celandines |
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| Ivy Berries |
I've removed wheelie-bin loads of ivy (
Hedera helix) over the winter, but there is still plenty around. It fruits at a different time of year from most berries, and provides welcome food for blackbirds and woodpigeons.
