Gardening with Nature on the Edge of the Atlantic

Category: Fungi

  • Hints of Summer

    At this time of the year much of the garden looks very dull and this year it is also waterlogged with the appropriate squelching sounds to compliment the scene. One has to admire the plants that continue to pretend that it is high Summer, like this Lavatera. New flowers are appearing all the time and…

  • Colour – In Spite of Everything

    Regardless of the weather there is one truly sheltered spot in my garden – behind a shed. The only acer that is truly thriving resides there, where I placed it on a temporary basis when I moved into the property, but it is now there to stay. My less successful attempts have led to some…

  • Four-Legged Garden Pests

    The yearly cycle continues as various small animals try to set up winter homes in my raised beds providing endless entertainment and exercise for my dogs. They don’t ever catch anything as the creatures are ‘savvy’ enough to pack their bags and move to safer headquarters. I used to try and stop the dogs but…

  • Winter Colour

    3 DECEMBER 2022 There are always surprises each winter when a few flowers appear out of season. These roses at the bottom of the drive are just some of the many blossoms that are popping up all over the garden. There is usually just one bunch per plant but it is enough to brighten up…

  • Autumn Colours

    The autumn colours have been very impressive this year, as this young blueberry bush demonstrates. However, they lost their leaves very quickly as they were exposed to the series of storms that have battered the garden on and off for weeks. By next year, I am hoping that the hawthorn hedge that I have planted…

  • Fantastic Fungi

    It has been a very strange autumn in the garden. In the last few weeks bumble bees, hoverflies and even the odd butterfly have made the occasional appearance on sunny days. The holly offers plenty of food but some of my catmint plants have started to flower again and are equally popular. Even the Eleagnus…

  • New Beginnings

    I have a love-hate relationship with the Inula Hookeri which dominates whatever part of the garden it inhabits. Its flower is interesting from the moment it appears, but it spreads rapidly and will quickly push out anything growing near it. Each winter I have the arduous task of containing it, muttering under my breath as…

  • A Frog By Any Other Name

    Gardening at the moment is an exercise in dodging thunder storms, rain showers and wind gusts that can knock you off your feet in a very undignified manner. Everywhere there are hints of the jobs to be done and even the grass is growing despite the cold. So are the lichen as Fergus my frog…

  • The Survivor of the Year

    My copse and the once bare hillside just after Storm Barra I now know what a ‘weather bomb’ is, although I would far prefer to have read about it in a book. Ophelia was the last severe weather ‘event’ in this area, although the devastation to my garden when the ‘tail end’ of Darwin hit…

  • In the Absence of Leaves

    Winter has arrived with a bang and in an unusual collaboration with nature I planted my garlic on the day before the first heavy frost and put out all of the bird feeders. So, with any luck I will have plenty of birds throughout the winter and no vampires. Indoors, my newly planted turmeric is…