Celebrating gardens, photography and a creative life
Late yesterday afternoon most (all?) Britons were asked to live under stricter restrictions to help control a more infectious strain of the virus that has become prevalent in parts of the country.
Not good news at any time, and especially hard to take at Christmas and New Year.
The most widely grown hardy (or heritage) mum is Chrysanthemum x rubellum ‘Clara Curtis’. It was discovered by Amos Perry in 1929 at Happy Valley Gardens in Llandudno, Wales, where my sister and I often played as children. (Not in 1929, I should add.)
Despite its roots, I see Chrysanthemum ‘Clara Curtis’ far more often in Mississippi than I do here in the UK. It’s a very distinctive variety with luminous pale pink flowers with a touch of lilac. Continue reading “Hardy Chrysanthemums (Chrysanthemum x rubellum)”
Ornamental kale (Brassica oleracea) provides an alternative to flowers towards the back end of the year when gardeners have relatively few options. The colours intensify when nights get colder. Continue reading “Ornamental Kale (Brassica oleracea) and a Comparison”
HeyJude’s challenge this week is to ‘approach your photograph with an eye for shape rather than form… Shapes are squares, rectangles, circles, and triangles… two-dimensional and “flat” in nature.’
Some challenges are easier than others. I did manage to find one picture I thought might qualify. The building interests me because of its stark rectangles. The flower beds in the middle ground are geometrical. The circle in the foreground is fairly flat. Continue reading “Photo Challenge: Focus on Shapes”
We had a scattering of snow on Friday, so around lunchtime I wrapped up and went out to see if there was any fun to be had.
One of the pleasures of a fresh covering of snow is the chance to lay down a trail of footprints, and to follow other people’s. (Unless that’s just me being childish!) Finding this bird print pattern in a quiet part of town was a small treat. Two or perhaps three visitors had left their traces on the pavement before me. Continue reading “Footprints in the Snow”
Earth’s name should remind us of its thin layer of soil that provides 95% of our food, but how much do we know about the soil? It’s one more thing most of us take for granted. I certainly found no pictures of good old plain soil in my files and found myself wishing I’d taken a picture of a giant molehill I noticed a day or two ago.
Scientists compare our soil to a living skin, vulnerable to rough treatment, chemicals and erosion. And rough treatment is often what it gets.
UK readers may be feeling outraged that one of our beautiful, meandering rivers, Hereford’s River Lugg, has been reshaped by landowner(s) who almost certainly knew of their legal duty to protect it. A site of special scientific interest, the river and its “riverbanks, gravels and beds of water crowfoot are home to crayfish, otters and salmon, lampreys and dragonflies and a host of rare river wildlife” to quote The Wildlife Trust. Continue reading “World Soil Day is 5th December”
Susan Rushton 