Natalie's Nature Notes
May 2022
If you ever have any doubt about how important trees are, The Hidden Life of Trees by Peter Wohlleben is the book to read. Although I have always loved nature, training and my overall profession, probably removed some of the childhood magic I found in it all. His book firmly reinstated it and made me see trees and the forest network in a whole new light. Seeing early spring sunlight filtered through the fresh green leaves of a horse chestnut has been one of my most relaxing moments this month.
More Spring Greens...
Acer pseudoplatanus
Sycamore
Anthriscus sylvestris
Cow parsley
Alliaria petiolata
Jack-in-the-hedge
April 2022
Finally a month that feels like it should do. So cold at times there are still getting frosts, April showers that come out of nowhere and plenty of spring sunshine to bring trees and shrubs into leaf and flower. It seems like the hedgerows are alive with fresh lime green leaves breaking out on dark winter branches. This is why spring always feels so fresh. In floristry you are encouraged to use lime green as it brings an arrangement 'together'. Green is said to be the most calming colour; and there is no doubt that it is everywhere in nature.
Salix babylonica
(Weeping willow)
This is such a contrast to a picture I took of the same tree in January. Dripping with bright green leaves its craggy bark is barely visible now.
Loropetalum chinense
(Chinese fringe flower)
Is having its best year for me so far. I have had this from a tiny plant and now a decent size. In a pot and reported every 2/3 years. The bright pink witch hazel-like flowers really stand out against the dark leaves.
Amelanchier lamarkii
(Serviceberry)
This is a great tree for small gardens especially if you fancy and alternative to cherry blossom. Packed with white blooms, the new leaves have a reddish hue. They have fruit later in that birds really enjoy.
Pyrus salicifolia 'Pendula'
(Weeping silver pear)
I have been luck enough to move to a house an inherit this, or I might never have truly appreciated it. Beautiful silver foliage and stunning white blossom that has caused no end of pleasure.
March 2022
A trip to the coast provided a different type of flora. It was also nice to see plants and the promise of what they will bring, rather than the phase when they are in full flower. I recently read Cut and Dry by Carolyn Dunster, a fantastic book about arranging with dried flowers. It has made me look at the dried forms of plants more closely and appreciate how they look year round.
Vibrant Yucca and its dried flower spike from last year.
Dried Asphodel (?) their seeds long ago scattered by the coastal winds.
With its distinctive 'nodules' this silver Hippophae (sea buckthorn) really stood out against the sand.
Verbascum (giant mullein) leaves a distinctive flower spike above its basal leaves.
Ulex (Gorse)is invasive and everywhere on rocky slopes forming thick impenetrable thickets.
Exposed roots of sea grass as plants begin to colonise the dune system.
Mesembryanthemum covering cliff faces makes a show with its think green leaves.
Smyrnium (horse parsley) with its bright green umbels against the dried grasses and brambles
Early March 2022
Out of nowhere spring is showing signs of arriving. We still may get bitter winds, so snow or freezing rain. But nothing can stop those spring bulbs and hardy winter flowering shrubs from brightening up your day.
Prunus spinosa
(sloe or blackthorn)
Unmistakable bright white blossom covering the dark bark of the blackthorn. This is a great inclusion in a native hedging mix. Giving early flowers, sloe berries in autumn and great for security with is deadly thorns.
Hamamelis 'Orange Beauty'
(witch hazel)
I have had this shrub since 2014 living happily in a pot. It has been repotted a couple of times to allow for growth, but makes a stunning addition to a winter pot display. Slow-growing it will be happy until it gets to the size where it needs to be in the ground.
Crocus
One of the many great spring bulbs. This crocus was delivering some much needed nectar to a queen bumblebee. I was assured that bumblebees are "very savvy to the changing weather. They will take every opportunity to collect pollen and nectar. But in any colder weather they will seek shelter." (helminghamwildman)
February 2022
I was struck by the light this morning and how early morning winter sun can look just like late summer sun. I thought how different I would feel if it was late on a summer's day... and I realised how linked we are with the seasons and nature.
We sometimes struggle come the end of the summer. I have come across other people and gardeners who feel the same towards the end of August. We would call it 'the death of summer' a time when the garden seems a bit exhausted, but the joy of autumn is still too far away.
No one likes to feel 'down', but I wonder if this change in feeling towards the seasons is something more deeply rooted that we have lost in our busy lives. Something we knew more about when we were linked to the land. This feeling might have made us prepare for winter by gathering and preserving. Just like a sunny winter's morning, when the sound of the skylark gives us the promise of spring.
Gardening reacquaints ourselves with the land, seasons and nature, thus enabling our primeval needs and putting us back in balance.
January 2022
Looking back on these cold January days, it seems hard to imagine that we had not experienced much cold weather at all until late-October and November. Then a December found us rainy and overcast leaving the ground water logged, but with unusual high temperatures. In contrast January has been crisp, dry and very cold. A great time to see the 'bones' of gardens and out in the countryside too.
Corylus
(hazel)
The catkins from hazel really stand out when not much else is flowering. The frost seems to high-light them and they look like natures decorations.
Galanthus
(snowdrop)
The first of many we will see, but it was a real treat in early January to find these in a lovely patch of winter sun, probably the reason they are already in flower.
Prunus serrula
(Tibetan cherry)
Only in winter do we fully appreciate the beauty of bark. This cherry is well known, but keep you eye out for other trees before new leaves start to open.
Ulex
(gorse)
Can be invasive, but makes a great impenetrable hedge or thicket. It seems like it flowers forever. I love it in the summer when the flowers smell like suntan cream to me!
Late-October 2021
A very warm September seems to have left us a bit behind with autumn colour this year. Although with the late October storms, maybe it was a good thing as many leaves that had turned, just got blown off the trees!
I have see some really lovely examples of nature starting to turn and shed its skin and with the first ground frosts beginning, winter is just starting to reach its cold fingers around the corner...
First frost
First proper ground frost of the season. With a gorgeous backdrop of the turning leaves
Urtica dioica
(nettle)
Just before the sun had time to melt the frost away.
Rising mist
As the frozen grass began to heat up with the morning sun.
Teasel and dog rose berries
Making a lovely pairing.
Physalis alkekengi
(chinese lantern)
These are fantastic for decoration at this time of year with bright orange lanterns before they begin to decay revealing bright fruit. NOT to be confused with the cape gooseberry (Phasalis peruviana) the Chinese lantern is NOT edible and can cause stomach upset!
Prunus spinosa
(sloe berry or blackthorn)
Flowering back in late winter on bare branches. Now we have had the first frosts the fruits are finally ready for picking and making sloe gin for the winter season.
Ligustrum ovalifolium
(garden privet)
I recently learnt at the 'Gardening for Wildlife' session (presented by Kat Freeman) that the berries of the garden privet are a favourite food of the Waxwing. There are so many this year, fingers crossed we will get flocks of them.
Clerodendrum trichotomum var. fargesii
(farges harlequin gloryblower)
Botanical and common names both a bit of a mouthful! So exotic looking, it is hard to believe it survives in the UK. This picture showing perfectly three stages of berries ripening to a rich blue.
September 2021
The end of summer can be a tricky time. It feels like things are coming to an end and all the promise we felt in spring is very far away. But autumn is one of my favourite seasons. There is so much still waiting to happen... fruits, berries and seeds all starting to ripen. Leaves waiting for those cold nights, but sunny days to start their change into glorious autumn colour.
Rubus
(blackberry or bramble)
Should be a bumper crop this year with late warmth ripening the berries and not too much rain to make them soft and prone to mould.
Prunus spinosa
(sloe berry or blackthorn)
Flowering back in late winter on bare branches, the fruits are finally beginning to turn. Best picking is after the first frost of the season.
Clematis vitalba
(traveller's joy or old man's beard)
Showing off the lovely silken seed heads, I was only just talking about when they were in full flower a month ago!
Sambucus
(elderberry)
Almost close to going over, it seems to have happened so fast! Big heads of tiny black berries the birds love to feast on.
Late-July 2021
Flowering in the hedges and field margins at the height of summer there are many wildflowers to see. Here are just some I have spotted on my daily walks.
Clematis vitalba
(traveller's joy or old man's beard)
Found scrambling in hedgerows, it has somewhat understated flowers, but on mass they really stand out.
More conspicuous in winter months, they retain their silken seed heads earning it the common name 'old man's beard'. Fantastic for winter flower arrangements.
Knautia arvensis
(field scabious)
It used to be quite common in dry grasslands and cornfileds. I mainly see it on rough areas of field margins and uncut verges on quiet lanes.
Similar in flower to the cultivated scabious used in horticulture and often described as having 'pincushion' like flowers given its flat head.
Vicia cracca
(tuffted or bird vetch)
Vetches always fascinated me as a child as they seemed so dainty, but their tendrils help them to scramble over other plants and make them tough customers. I spotted this one in an area of 'park' using a hazel to help it on its way. I have an old wildflower, book first published 1979, that describes it as "perhaps the handsomest (of vetches)".
Dipsacus fullonum
(teasel)
Teasel has a ring of flowers starts in the middle and then moves towards the top and bottom of the flowerhead giving long lasting flowering. Both flowerheads and stems remain upright over winter. Lovely winter interest in a garden setting and late food for wildlife. I have also used them dried in flower arrangements and door wreaths.
Late-June 2021
Lonicera
(honeysuckle)
Naturally edge of woodland plants, honeysuckle loves to scramble over anything to reach the light. Lovely fragrant flowers that smell stronger in the evening.
Sambucus
(elderflower)
Hedgerows are covered in elderflower blossom at this time of year. Often picked to make cordial or wine they have an unmistakable flavour. Always covered in with all sorts of insects.
Rosa canina
(dog rose)
A lovely single flowered pale pink rose that gives great hips later in autumn. It has thorns that point backwards enabling it to ramble wherever it chooses.
Early to mid-June 2021
Laburnum anagyroides, is just starting to go over in the heat of mid-June. But they have put on a spectacular show in 2021.
Philadelphus (mock orange) is such a heady smell it is often the fragrance that makes you look for the flowers.
Aquilegia vulgaris (columbine) was left to self seed and although now slightly out of control does make a great sight for early summer
Rosa 'Shropshire Lass' shows what a great addition a climbing rose can make to a garden. This was festooned with flowers and attracting countless bees.
Late-May 2021
Crataegus
Hawthorn or May blossom. Normally out much earlier hence the common name, it is really starting to get going covering the hedgerows in white blossom. I like to think of it picking up the gauntlet from Prunus spinosa (blackthorn) that flowers earlier in the year.
Meconopsis
Himalayan poppy taken at Parcevall Hall Gardens. A lovely hidden garden in the Dales in North Yorkshire. Some really fantastic plants to see like the poppies, Trilliums, peonies and much more. The setting has fantastic views of the surrounding dales.
Sorbus aucuparia
Rowan/mountain ash has a long associated history with magic and witches and was traditionally used to make divining rods. A true magnet for wildlife with not only the white clusters of flowers we at this time of year, but also for its red berries in autumn.
May 2021
I know gardeners always obsess about rain, and I know we have had a lot lately! But the difference it makes is so visible. The grass seems to be growing faster than I can mow. The hedgerows and verges are bursting into life. And plants that should have finished flowering weeks ago are still hanging in there. What a fantastic time of year to experience.
Wild garlic flowering in open woodland.
Prunus (cherry) just starting to scatter its petals like confetti.
Cow parsley getting ready to burst into flower.
Much needed rain bringing the countryside alive with green.
March - April 2021
A lot of things currently in flower are doing so on 'bare wood', meaning their leaves come out during or after flowering. The genus Prunus is a great example of this; also this year, the Forsythias seem brighter than ever.
Prunus
(ornamental cherry)
As long as we escape really strong winds, cherry blossom can last a good few weeks. As there are so may different types, you can get cherry flowers from as early as December right through to early May.
Forsythia
Forsythia is a real spring delight. Nothing can match that bright yellow on a dull day as we emerge from winter.
When established they are best pruned by removing one quarter of the oldest stems at the base on the plant, after flowering.
Prunus spinosa
(blackthorn or sloe )
One of the first Prunus out, blackthorn always looks stunning, with clouds of white blossom and the promise of lots of sloe berries in autumn.
This year it seems later than usual maybe due to the constant re-emergence of cold weather and frost, but our hedgerows would not look the same without it.