Wednesday, January 25, 2006

the first snowdrop

The first snowdrop, appearing in the cold frame. This is one of the plants designated for the spring trough. Two houses along from me there are snowdrops all over the garden, showing how much shelter I lack. My garden snowdrops are nowhere near out.
I can't resist taking photgraphs of this Corylus Avellana Contorta, twisted hazel, an amazing plant, wow nature!


The fork in the manure heap at the stables, somewhere in the hedge is a robin with a resolution never to go near anybody with a camera. This well rotted, crumbly lovely stuff was dug into bags and transpoted in the car to make. . .
. . the middle bed. The 100yr old pine for the edges for this came from my friend Fiona's house. It is the joists which were removed after her house was flooded and they had to re-joist and floor some of the house. The wood was rotten at the ends but after a bit of sawing by Fiona the rest is great quality 2 1/2 inches thick. Last year when the middle bed first came into being it had the turf turned over, two bins of compost emptied on top of it, then covered in porous black mebrane which I planted through. Its now dug over and ready to go when the weather is.


5 comments:

Madcap said...

That wood was a great find. We've got the lumber waiting in the garage, but still seeking out dirt. Boy, you're making my fingers itch!

Wildside Musing said...

You're way ahead me there, Claire! I guess by about a month or so... Wow! Snowdrops already???

HomemakerAng said...

i used to have what we call in the US states, a "hairless contorta or Henry Lauder's walking stick" tree. I love them! Do you know that is the stick that "they" are referring to in the poem, the man that walked the crooked mile, or something like that!

Norene Griffin said...

i am surprised to see how green it is in scotland in january. i would have expected a landscape in hibernation. shows how much i know!

i LOVE your photos of twisted hazel. what an extraordinary plant. beautiful and exotic. thank you for giving me something new to admire. i agree: wow nature!

clairesgarden said...

I think we call it Harry Lauders walking stick , he was a comedian in early black and white tv time. it was great to take adventage of a mild day and get outside to do some work in the garden. still cold though if you stopped!