Waxy Fresh Leaves

This week is a special day in the calendar of the UK.

The TV spends hours building up to it, the crowds gather in London from all over and the atmosphere is carnival like and colourful. It is one of those days that participants like to say I was there, and hope that the end result goes off well - It’s FA cup final day!

Years ago, it was on both sides of the TV, they used to run re-runs of all the matches leading up to the big day beforehand and then at 3pm on Saturday one would settle down and just enjoy the occasion. If you were lucky enough to have your team in the final then that added extra spice to the match, but otherwise it was a chance to see David vs Goliath played out on a football pitch with a round leather ball.

Sadly, that feeling of excitement for the big day has rather evaporated, the 3pm time is now driven by the TV schedule, so it is 5.30 today. The TV channels now fight for the rights and the David vs Goliath event is more often than not a war of attrition between two teams who don’t really want to lose.

The essence of the big day has kind of been lost forever, swept up in a tide of advertising, big business and finance. The little boys that once saw magic and wonder in the whole event can now see only greed and selfishness.

Back here is sunny Somerset, it feels a million miles away. The timeless schedule of Summer following Spring which has staggered out of Winter has not changed. Ok, the timing of these events seems to vary a bit more than I remember from growing up as a young man in London, but there is always the beauty of the flowers bursting out of the winter weather, followed by the emergence of the veil of freshness that settles on the land when the new leaves and summer colours start to shine.

This year I can honestly say feels fresher than ever. The waxy newness of the leaves as they pop out of their containment and obscure the surrounding environment in such a way as to protect the young birds from predators but gently encourage fruits to grow, has been fantastic.

I have felt compelled to touch these leaves more than ever, and tune in to the revolution that is taking place in the garden. I have been around a bit more in the evenings recently to see a daily change, even if it is just through the last rays of the sun vanishing over the horizon. But to go outside and drink well in the liquor of the life that is going on outside, is to recognise what really matters in this crazy modern world that has replaced birdsong with ringtones and experience with virtual reality.

I am fascinated by technology, and I marvel at the pace with which the world is moving, but to lose the ability to enjoy the grandeur of spring, the majesty of summer growth and the spectacle of autumn leaves would indeed be a loss of the kind that would trump everything else.  As the building revolution slowly eats up the countryside in this beautiful land, let’s hope we don’t overstep the mark and lose all that made this place so fantastic in our rush to modernise everything.

End of soapbox moment!

Almost a Flowering Iris

When we moved into our house, we quickly came to understand that we had a lot of irises planted in the garden. More than anywhere we had lived previously. I love irises and so does my better half. They don’t last long but they sparkle while they flower.

After we had lived here for a couple of years, we realised that although there were many irises in the garden, in reality they never really flowered. Great leaves grew from the corms that topped the soil, but we never really saw many actual flowers, except around the pond where the irises are plentiful.

We also tend to go on holiday each year at this time, and therefore if there were any flowers, then we missed them anyway.

To overcome this, we planted a few small irises near to our house so that we could see their progress from the windows. These have flowered well and multiplied such that we now get a bit of a show. This has been a great success.

But I was determined to get some flowers from the existing corms, so I moved eight of them to a sunny spot. They have been through two winters, they have had to survive death by weeding from my better half and they have had to re-establish their roots amongst a plethora of other sun loving criminals. But finally, we have a flower. Just on one plant, but we have one and it is about to open.

There are times when your slugs have feasted on your flowers, or your wildlife has nibbled on your beans that one questions whether it is all worth the effort, but then you get a moment of delight from seeing a flower open that you have longed for but never quite believed will ever happen. The preview picture is opposite – watch this space.

Tree Peony

In a very similar vein, each year brings about something that we have never seen before. “How can this be”, I hear you ask. “Surely that is an exaggeration!”

Well no, actually every single year since we have been here, there is another flower that appears that we have never seen flower before or sometimes even knew that existed in the garden.

This year is also the year of the tree peony. One of our clan bought us a fantastic tree peony when we moved in and we planted it in pride of place right in front of the house. A location where it can be seen each day and admired when it has grown properly. But each year it has grown, leafed, and withered back in winter. Never a flower has opened.

One year we did actually see flowers appear, but one of the cats trudged over it and broke the branch that contained them. So they never bloomed.

“What colour could it be?”, we thought.

Well here it is in all its beautiful pinkness. A pink that says rose petal and cream ice cream, or summer hats at a wedding. A pink that stands out from the crowd. A pink that will now forever be pretty tree peony in May in our minds. But going back to the theme of the first paragraph, I now feel greedy to see several of them and regularly. I want this beautiful flower to rise up from its slumber each May and fill the garden with a proliferation of flowers not just a single stem. I can dream!

Trying to Cool Down

Earlier I remembered the good old days of fantasy football before the age of the computer, when one used to go outside into the park with a ball and pretend to be your favourite star, kicking the ball around and commentating on who you were and who else was in your made up world at that moment, rather than watching a simulated clone waddling around the computer screen performing a life like impression of the star you have in mind, (or was this just me?).

It got me outside, and it amused me for hours trying to replicate the goal that was scored in the latest match or the trick that was performed by the top star. But in that ideal world that I am remembering, I have to say, that one thing I don’t miss from that time was the car journey without air conditioning. The journey that started early before the sun really took hold, but later slowly roasted the occupants of the car that was never really designed for the summer.

The fan that was turned up to maximum to cool everyone but actually just blew hot air on the nearest dweller.

Well this week, I have remembered this all too well. Almost the moment the milometer, (well the digital display), ticked round to 100,000 miles, my car started to malfunction.

The radio now only plays radio 2.

The air-conditioning decided not to cool the air any more but instead keep the car at a steady roasting temperature.

Something that I have taken for granted for years is no longer available, and it is horrendous. How did we ever cope before?

It is at least fixable, if I can ever find a time to get the car into the garage.

But just as the feeling of time slowly taking its toll on my body has ticked over this year as I enter my second semi-century, the progression of my car into its second period of one hundred kilo-miles is likely to need some love, care and attention if it is going to last for much longer. It is amazing that cars can be timed so perfectly to start to fail at this juncture, it is almost as if there are computers controlling their performance and deciding how they will operate during testing 🙂.

Don't Fight With Things Larger Than You

In recent posts I have talked about toads, frogs and other regular visitors to our garden. The sound of amphibians with their night vision and determination to spawn has echoed around the garden at times, and the need to scour the lawn before mowing to avoid carnage is always with us.

Sadly, my better half found another lawn dweller that we rarely see. A baby snake. This was only a few inches long, but probably argued with the mower longer than was healthy and came off the worse for the incident. As much as she has tried to avoid wildlife, (and she probably killed it which has made it worse for her),  having a large lawn in a country based house is never going to be conducive to providing a true sanctuary for wildlife. It is just unavoidable.

We have created various sanctuaries for wildlife in log piles, insect hotels and bird boxes. So as long as the wildlife can find their way to these islands of haven they will avoid the lawn mowers, cats and badgers that are the snakes to their ladder.

Wonderful Driftwood Deer

It is that time of year when local flower or craft shows start to appear on the calendar and roadside adverts spring up to distract you when you approach roundabouts.

Last week we attended the Malvern Flower Show. We have been before and we really like it, as it is not too big and formal, and relatively accessible and fun. It was great!

As well as the show gardens and corporate stands, there were many small businesses showing off their wares or advising you on how to take one of their products and transform your garden with it. Somehow planting a 6 inch stick from New Zealand with a few berries on it hasn’t quite managed to convert the feel of our place to that of a pacific garden, but their intentions were honest.

We trawled around the retail therapy section looking for the killer plant that would make our garden stand out from the crowd. Unfortunately, that really just comes with hard work so it was quickly back to lawn mowing, bush trimming and weeding the next day.

Following the Malvern Show is the Bath and West Show which promotes the countryside in a different way through agriculture and entertainment. This is in a couple of weeks but something that is worth a look if you happen to be in the vicinity of the Bath and West Showground.

There is also an 80’s revival taking place on the downs in Bristol is a couple of weeks. Human League, Marc Almond, ABC, OMD, Billy Ocean and many others are staging a festival on 2^nd June. Anyone who lives close to the downs will probably hear the music anyway, but it is the 10^th year of this festival so it should be a good one.

In keeping with the era of this festival I have looked up another favourite tune of mine. It describes a moment in history that will hopefully never be forgotten.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5XJ2GiR6Bo

The second tune is by the same group and relates back to the garden shows. The grandeur of the park in the video reminded me of the Tatton Park and Hampton Court shows that also come around again pretty quickly. I think the filming is actually at Stowe.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XDIYOiQUi2s

And finally …..

How could I not mention the other event happening this weekend – The Royal Wedding.

This time it is a divorcee marrying the most rebellious of the royals, sounds like the monarchy is finally living in the modern world. Maybe it is time to consign them to history before they lose their untouchable sparkle, (or is that too contentious). Prince Charles is doing his duty giving away the bride to his son that looks remarkably like James Hewitt, (oh there I go again).

Have a great weekend!

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