The Frustrated Gardener

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Posts tagged ‘nature’

  I can smell Cornwall before I can see it. Driving across the ancient border between Devon and Cornwall at night it’s pitch black, but I know that if I wind the car window down the mingled scent of damp heather, moss, fern and lichen…

Eternal Eden

September 25, 2017
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  Each time I return to the West Country I am reminded just how damp it is compared to Kent. A crude comparison of averages would tell you that twice as much rain falls in Devon or Cornwall versus Kent or East Anglia. On the…

Wonder Walls Part II

April 11, 2017
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Walking in the Kent countryside this afternoon I am reminded that, beyond the confines of our garden, spring is not quite as far advanced as I might have imagined. In the heady rush of seed planting and potting on, enveloped by the scent of cultivated…

Nature Knows

April 2, 2016
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My knowledge of parasitic plants is limited to say the least. It extends no further than dodder (Cuscuta epithymum) and toothwort (Lathraea clandestina). But now, following my walk around Hong Kong’s Peak, I can add a third, Balanophora harlandii.  Parasitic plants seem to share little…

Daily Flower Candy: Balanophora harlandii

October 22, 2015
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One of the many wonderful things about writing this blog is that I am slowly building up an invaulable record of what I did and when. Before I set off this morning for Hong Kong’s highest point, I looked back at my post ‘A Walk…

Plants and Peace on The Peak

October 18, 2015
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Clematis vitalba: Old man’s beard, traveller’s joy, virgin’s bower, ladies’ bower, love vine, traveller’s ivy. When the feathery seed heads of Clematis vitalba start to appear in the hedgerows, one knows autumn can’t be far away. Walking along the clifftops yesterday I observed this rampant climber piling over…

Daily Flower Candy: Clematis vitalba

August 30, 2015
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Regular readers of this blog will know that I am a big fan of echiums. I love their jewel-coloured flowers, the way they attract bees to the garden and their incredible range of stature; from sprawling Echium tuberculatum to sky rocketing Echium pininana. Slowly but…

Daily Flower Candy: Viper’s Bugloss

August 8, 2015
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Clockwise from top left: herb robert (Geranium robertianum); hart’s tongue fern (Asplenium scolopendrium); lesser celandine (Ranunculus ficaria); Alexanders / wild celery (Smyrnium olusatrum); common gorse (Ulex europaeus); blackthorn / sloe (Prunus spinosa); red campion (Silene dioica); dog violet (Viola riviniana); three-cornered leek (Allium triquetum), primrose…

Wildflowers of Cornwall

April 13, 2015
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It’s midweek and already my brain has turned to blancmange.  So for everyone’s sake, I’ll keep today’s post simple. Living by the seaside, we need not stray very far to marvel at nature’s resourcefulness.  Occupying a variety of precarious positions, chalk-loving wild flowers punctuate the…

Hangers-On

August 14, 2013
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On our frequent visits to Whitstable, we’ve often been intrigued by a glinting weather vane, perched high above the trees at the Tankerton end of the beach. It turns out that the weather vane rises from the battlements of Whitstable Castle, originally Tankerton Towers, a…

Whitstable Castle Gardens, Kent

July 6, 2013
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