I Will Be Master Here # 2

Posted on November 28, 2011 by David Marsden

These Dahlia Tubers have important information that I require.

When they talk, I’ll cut them down. But not before. Not before.

Priory Picture Post # 17

Posted on November 25, 2011 by David Marsden

Erodium x kolbianum ‘Natasha’ is a favourite of mine – and a fine name to say out loud. I first came across it when working in an Alpine nursery and was hooked; pretty, veined flowers with two dark patches, raised on tall, delicate stems above a small mound of glaucous, finely cut foliage. Not a particularly well known plant and, though I do occasionally see it in garden centres, I can’t help but wonder why it isn’t more popular. Anyway, less words, more pictures. Here it is:

November 2011

Oops. Sorry. Let me just shoo that fly away.

November 2011

There. That’s better. Pretty flower isn’t it? And what is so impressive about Natasha is that it just goes on and on and on. The above photos were taken a few days ago.

June 2011

But it has been flowering since at least May.

July 2011

It doesn’t spread and provide ground cover but plant it in a sunny, well drained spot (or pot) and it’ll quite happily flower for months on end. You can propagate easily from cuttings (in my experience it doesn’t seem to self seed) and you don’t need to deadhead – though it looks a little tidier if you do.

September 2011 - not deadheaded

I like a plant that just gets on with it – without any fuss. Don’t you? All that Natasha does require is a little admiration.

Snipping Amphibians …

Posted on November 21, 2011 by David Marsden

… is, I imagine, an unpleasant experience and one I try to avoid.

Common Toad – Nov 2011

The gardens at The Priory are watery. They contain two large ponds, lots of drainage ditches and are bordered on one side by a mighty, broad river. (Or a little brook – depending on how big you are). It is a perfect habitat for frogs, toads and newts. And all of these live there in large numbers. I see them regularly and am pleased.

Part of the main ditch that connects the east and west ponds – August 2011

Recently, I have been strimming the banks of the ponds and ditches. I allow these margins to grow throughout the spring and summer and they explode with flower and provide superb cover for frogs and toads. Strimming an amphibian is a real worry when I come to cut them back at this time of year.

The same stretch of ditch after strimming. I still need to remove all the alder seedlings – November 2011

Though amazingly (as far as I know), I have yet to do so. But it is a thought always present while wielding the powerful Stihl strimmer and makes me ever watchful – and very tense. As if that weren’t stressful enough, I even have to be careful when mowing:

Kamikaze frog – October 2011

Luckily for this frog, I saw him just in time – the thought of mowing over a frog makes me feel sick.

Kamikaze Common Frog – October 2011

In autumn, newts aplenty leave the Priory ponds and overwinter on land and, for several months, I have to move pots with great care for fear of squashing them (see ‘Freeloading Ne’er-do-wells’). I also have to be careful when edging the lawns. The paving at the Priory has a gap (or, as I call them, gullies), between it and the grass.

The ‘gullies’ on either side of a stretch of path.

They were overgrown and silted up when I started but now I keep them clear and the grass trimmed with super-sharp edging shears. Prone to fill with leaf litter, these gullies are perfect overwintering sites for newts. I often find them here, groggy with cold sleep.

A Smooth or Common Newt – November 2011

So, when snipping away with the shears, I’m always conscious of how easy it would be to snip a newt in half. Or remove a newt’s tail. Or leg. Anxious? You don’t know the half of it.

A Smooth or Common Newt – November 2011

The other day, having edged the lawns, I was clearing out the clippings and leaves from one of these gullies and found a Great Crested Newt* – the first I’ve seen at the Priory. Thank goodness I didn’t harm him. I took a quick photo and put him to bed in some deep leaf litter beneath a nearby shrub.

Great Crested Newt – November 2011

As well as amphibians, there are reptiles at the Priory. I have seen slow-worms (but no lizards) and back in September, I wrote about this chap:

Grass Snake – September 2011

One of my favourite inhabitants of the gardens, the Grass Snake. (Lots more photos here: Grass Snake)

Grass Snake – September 2011

A few days ago I met David, a chum of mine, for a pint or two or three or four at a local pub. And we talked of gardening things and of things gardening. And I mentioned my worry of accidentally killing amphibians and reptiles. David winced and a look of pained disgust crossed his face as he told me of inadvertently spearing a toad with a gardening fork and

Grass Snake – September 2011

of cutting a grass snake in two with a strimmer.

I winced and look of pained disgust crossed my face too. I turned a shade or two paler and gulped my pint. My fear is obviously justified.

* The editorial staff at theanxiousgardener.blogspot.com would like to stress that the Great Crested Newt is an endangered species and protected under the UK Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, and that no Great Crested Newts were harmed in the making of this blogpost.

The Watcher

Posted on November 18, 2011 by David Marsden

Yesterday, I was working in the greenhouse and gradually became aware that I was being watched.

I glanced out of the windows to see whether any of Margaret’s sheep or cows were out there doing that chewy, starey thing.

But no. No visiting workmen either; eyeballing me through the door, noses pressed up against the glass. Doesn’t half make me jump that.

And then I saw her. A pretty Sussex spider, crouched and camouflaged on a plant from the other side of the world; Opuntia or, as I now call it, Stacy’s weed.