Dear Readers, it would have been my mother’s 86th birthday on 26th November. She died on 18th December 2018, and so nearly three years have passed, but I still feel a great heaviness as her birthday approaches. Mum loved a celebration, be it Christmas or a birthday, November 5th or Easter, and it’s hard to think that I will never ring her up and sing ‘Happy Birthday’ (badly) down the phone to her.

The last time Mum and Dad came to visit at Christmas was in December 2016. I bought Mum the little orchid in the photo above, and when she headed home she forgot to take it with her. I watered it and then neglected it, and then watered it again. The poor thing must have been very confused. But then, in October,  I noticed that something was happening. Were there buds emerging, after all this time?

And just before what would have been Mum’s birthday, the first flower unfurled. I picked the plant up and put it on the mantelpiece so it could have pride of place. This morning the pond was frozen for the first time this winter, but the sun shone cold and hard through the window and the orchid glowed as if illuminated from within.

Mum had lots of orchids on her windowsill when she and Dad lived in Dorset. She became expert at coaxing them into flower and knowing when to let them rest. She had a long battle with whitefly, and every time I visited I’d be wiping the leaves and checking the buds to make sure there weren’t any insects hiding away, especially as her vision was failing. When she went into hospital and then the nursing home, the whitefly won, and every plant died except this one, the one that she forgot. It is so bittersweet that it is doing so well when she is three years dead. Sweet because it is so beautiful, bitter because she is no longer here to see it. She would have loved it, I know.

And yet, when I saw the orchid glowing in the sun, everything fell away. There is something about a moment of beauty that stops the endless brain-chatter and strips away the constant commentary about what’s happening. Before language I imagine this is what everything is like – no wonder tiny children are so constantly amazed by everything they see and hear. I am reminded too of Dad’s sheer, unalloyed delight when eating a custard tart after his dementia had stripped so many other things away. And if I can get past my narrative about Mum and Dad and what happened to them in their later years, all that is left is a boundless tenderness that’s so close to pain that I don’t really know how to express it, except that it feels like being filled from the top of my head to the tips of my toes with light. Grief is the tax we pay for loving deeply, and I don’t resent paying it, not one bit.

Dear Readers, what a cold, damp and grey day it was in the cemetery today! The wind was blowing a gale – we are getting the edge of Storm Arwen, who has been a real beast in the northern parts of the UK. Yesterday, the Meteorological Office issued a most unusual red warning for parts of Scotland and northern England – this means severe and imminent danger of loss of life and substantial property damage, and at least one person in Northern Ireland was killed in the high winds. Lest you think we are being imprudent by walking in the woods, I can assure you that the gusts are much less severe so far than elsewhere, but it was very chilly. We trudged along with our thermals on and our heads down, but as usual there was something to see.

First of all, I noticed this little ginkgo, a spot of sunshine in the relentless grey. This infant tree seems to be hanging on to its leaves, probably because it’s well protected by the cedars of Lebanon and the swamp cypresses (of which more shortly).

But then we drifted a little off piste, and came across this extraordinary sight.

An older ginkgo just across the way must have given up all its leaves at once. Look at this carpet of gold! They are rumoured to do this, but I’d never seen it before. How beautiful.

And what is that magnificent russet tree in the background? Regular readers will know that this is my favourite tree in the cemetery, the swamp cypress.

My husband was pondering why I loved it so much, and we came to the conclusion that it’s because it seems to stand between two worlds. It’s a conifer, and so you’d expect it to keep its leaves, but instead it’s deciduous. Conifers are so often trees of cold regions, but this tree is found in Texas and Louisiana. Although it can grow in swamps, it actually prefers dry soils. In other words, this is a tree that eludes categories and neat classification, like all my favourite people and animals. But more than that, it has a fairy-tale quality that is easy to see once you tiptoe under the low-hanging branches and stand under the canopy of soft leaves.

And here is a little cone, just forming. They are rather like medieval maces with their tiny plates.

My Collins Tree Guide describes the trunk as ‘sinuous’. I know what they mean.

There’s just something about this tree that somehow makes me feel loved and protected. It’s difficult to explain, but I could just nestle down on this bed of fallen leaves and sleep for a week. I know ‘tree-huggers’ have a bad name, but I have put my arms around this one more than once when unobserved.

Do you have a favourite tree? Or am I alone in thinking that, if you pay attention, they have character? Let me know, Readers!

London Planes

Dear Readers, we had some splendid results this week! Fran and Bobby Freelove got 29/30 for the tiniest of slips (one too many Canadians and not enough New Zealanders :-() but our winners this week, with 30/30 are Sophie and Claire. Well done to everyone!

A) 2) Paris – Herb Paris (Paris quadrifolia)

B) 9) Wales – Welsh Poppy (Meconopsis cambrica)

C) 8) New Zealand – New Zealand Pigmyweed (Crassula helmsii)

D) 10) Portland – Portland Spurge (Euphorbia portlandica)

E) 14) America – American willowherb (Epilobium ciliatum)

F) 5) Denmark – Danish scurvy grass (Cochlearia danica)

G) 11) Japan – Japanese Knotweed (Fallopia japonica)

H) 3) Nottingham – Nottingham Catchfly (Silene nutans)

I) 12) Russia – Russian Comfrey (Symphytum x uplandicum)

J) 6) Canada – Canadian fleabane (Conyza canadensis)

K) 13) Mexico – Mexican fleabane (Erigeron karvinskianus)

L) 15) Oxford – Oxford Ragwort (Senecio squalidus)

M) 7) Italy – Italian Lords and Ladies (Arum italicum)

N) 1) London – Londonpride (Saxifraga x urbium)

O) 4) Spain – Spanish Bluebells (Hyacinthoides hispanica)

Photo Credits

Photo A by gailhampshire from Cradley, Malvern, U.K, CC BY 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

Photo B by Anneli Salo, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

Photo C by Bas Kers at https://www.flickr.com/photos/21933510@N07/3654571543/

Photo D by Nicholas Turland at https://www.flickr.com/photos/nturland/48035556583/

Photo E by By Gordon Leppig &amp; Andrea J. Pickart – http://www.fws.gov/humboldtbay/plantguide/genus-e.html, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=4067441

Photo F by gailhampshire from Cradley, Malvern, U.K, CC BY 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

Photo G – author’s own.

Photo H by Arnstein Rønning, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

Photo I by Evelyn Simak / Russian comfrey (Symphytum x uplandicum)

Photo J by Tico Bassie at https://www.flickr.com/photos/tico_bassie/118358298

Photo K by Robert Flogaus-Faust, CC BY 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

Photo L by Rosser1954, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

Photo M by Photo (c)2006 Derek Ramsey (Ram-Man), CC BY-SA 2.5 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5>, via Wikimedia Commons

Photo N by I, Hugo.arg, CC BY-SA 3.0 <http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/>, via Wikimedia Commons

Photo O by Schnobby, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

Plane trees in Inner Temple Gardens

Dear Readers, you might remember that I visited this serene space in the middle of the Inns of Court a few months ago. Since then  I’ve become somewhat evangelical about the gardens, which combine interesting planting with a sense of informality which I find very appealing. I was intrigued to see what would still be in flower in the middle of November, and as I walked up to the gates, I spotted this remarkable plant, which I think is a cup-and-saucer vine (Cobaea scandens).

I’m not sure if these are buds or seedheads, but they are most remarkable structures.

Inside the garden there were salvias a-plenty, still mostly in flower. One of them was even hosting a drowsy bumblebee (not so drowsy that I managed to get a photo of her though).

The gardeners are very fond of ornamental grasses here, and use them to great effect.

Manchurian walnut tree in Inner Temple Gardens

And I rather like this plant, though I have no idea what it is. Help, Readers!

My friend S and I both though that this topiary looked like a duck with its head under its wing…

…..though not from the other side.

And look, a swamp cypress. Not quite as magnificent as *my* swamp cypress in St Pancras and Islington Cemetery, but very fine nonetheless.

And then it’s off for a trot along the plane tree avenue…

And then past the hydrangeas. I had no idea that you could get a scarlet variety, but here it is.

And here’s a more traditional variety. Hydrangeas are not my favourites (apart from my splendid climbing hydrangea of course) but they do have a very long season, and are one of the few plants that look impressive even when the flowers are dead.

But what on earth is this? The leaves on this plant are so interesting, and I love the way that it seems to unfold like a fan. If you know what it is give me a shout, gentle readers. UPDATE:I am mega-embarrassed about this as I’ve actually done a Wednesday Weed about this plant – Melianthus major, the Giant Honey Flower. Thanks to Fran and Bobby Freelove, Anne and Sophie for reminding me about it!. 

So I am still in love with these gardens, even at the turning of the year. It would  almost be worth becoming a lawyer just to have unlimited access. Note that I say ‘almost’ because I am not of a combative nature, and I suspect that that’s a prerequisite, though I guess it depends what part of the law you specialise in. And as I leave, I notice that the steps to the outside world are tumbling with Mexican fleabane, and embedded with wildflowers, as if insistent that our last memories of this special place should be of the potency of nature, which obeys laws of its own.

Red helleborine (Cephalanthera rubens) (Photo One)

Dear Readers, my copy of British Wildlife (which includes all things living, not just animals) often makes sober reading, as habitats change and species decline. This month, however, there are some very bracing success stories and I thought I’d share them here to cheer us all up.

First up is the red helleborine (photo above) – this is a critically endangered orchid in the UK, known from only a handful of sites, so it was a real treat when a new population of the plant was discovered in West Gloucestershire. Orchids are vulnerable to idiots with spades digging them up so the exact location is a secret, but the landowner, the local recorder and those with expertise in managing the habitat of this rare plant have been informed. Let’s hope that it thrives!

And while we’re on the subject of orchids, a small-flowered tongue orchid (Serapias parviflora) has cropped up on the green roof of Nomura Internation in the City of London. The seeds of orchids are incredibly light and can travel a long way, so it might well have been blown here from across the Channel (it’s a plant of the Atlantic coast of mainland Europe generally), and climate change is making the southern part of England much more amenable to plants that require warmer, wetter conditions.

Small-flowered tongue-orchid (Serapias parviflora)(Photo Two)

And here’s a very surprising story. Mousetail (Myosurus minimus), a Red-listed threatened species of buttercup, was spotted growing at Reading services on the M4 motorway – the plant was growing in a strip of gravel between two parking bays. The person who spotted it (Simon Leach) contacted a botanist who told him that it had been spotted on the other side of the motorway too so, with the zeal that only a true plant enthusiast can muster, he checked out the grass verges on the return journey, only to find that there were literally tens of thousands of the plant growing in these most inhospitable circumstances. Nature will indeed find a way.

Mousetail (Myosurus minimus) (Photo Three)

Moving onto insects, there is exciting news to report from the world of grasshoppers and their relatives. For one thing, the Large Conehead (Ruspolia nitidula) has become very well established in the south of England, and bat detectors have been used to pick up the calls of the males. There is a recording of their high-pitched call below – you might need to turn up your speakers!

Large conehead (Ruspolia nitidula) (Photo Four)

This rather splendid fly was found in Wytham Woods near Oxford – it’s a Forest Silver-Stiletto (Pandivirilia melaleuca) and is vanishingly rare – it needs dead and dying wood and sap runs in which to breed) so any new sighting has to be good news. Most people are not very fond of flies, but this varied group contains insects which are essential to the well-being of the ecosystems in which they lives.

Forest Silver-stiletto (Pandivirilia melaleuca) – Photo by Matthew Harrow

And finally (and for me this is the most exciting news of the month) a population of praying mantises has been found in a garden in Oxfordshire. The insects appear to be breeding – Richard Lewington, who wrote ‘Guide to Garden Wildlife‘, one of my favourite field guides, found several adults and an egg case in 2020. The owners contacted him this year, and he found a nymph, so this appears to be the first record of successful breeding in the wild in Britain.

Praying mantis (Mantis religiosa) (Photo Five)

So, it seems that climate change and a variety of other factors are influencing the make-up of our wild plant and animal communities in a variety of ways. Some could be predicted, but others are totally unexpected. Many species are being pushed to the brink, while others are taking advantage of new opportunities. There can be little doubt that everything is on the move.

Photo Credits

Photo One by Björn S…, CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

Photo Two By Luis nunes alberto – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=6497090

Photo Three by I, Hugo.arg, CC BY-SA 3.0 <http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/>, via Wikimedia Commons

Photo Four by Gilles San Martin from Namur, Belgium, CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

Photo Four byAlvesgaspar, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

Dear Readers, was there ever a more characterful vegetable than the kohlrabi? The one on the left looks as if it is grinning maniacally, and the one on the right seems to be waving its little arms or begging to be picked up. What a shame that they taste so much like turnips, a vegetable that fills me with little enthusiasm. Still, these chaps have appeared in my fortnightly organic box, and so I shall find something exciting to do with them.

Gary Rhodes, beloved pointy-haired chef from the 80s, suggests making a remoulade with them – as this features mayonnaise, Dijon mustard, capers and gherkins I am hoping that this will take the edge off the flavour. Rhodes was one of the first chefs to really pioneer British ingredients and recipes (though I remember Mum being very dismissive of his deconstructed steak and kidney pudding). His recipes included steamed syrup puddings, pies, pot roasts and trifles, and they all seemed to work, so I have high hopes for my kohlrabi. Sadly, Rhodes died aged only 59, but he was seen as an inspiration by everyone from Marcus Wareing to Jamie Oliver.

The esteemed Nigel Slater, however, describes the kohlrabi as ‘more or less useless‘. Over to you, readers!

Gary Rhodes (Photo One)

Now, although it looks like a turnip, kohlrabi is actually Brassica olearacea, the wild cabbage. This humble wild plant has given us not only our cultivated versions of cabbage, including the dreaded/revered Brussels sprout, but also the cauliflower, broccoli and collard greens. Although it looks like a turnip it isn’t actually one, although the confusion is long-lived: the name comes from the German Kohl (meaning cabbage) plus Rübe (meaning turnip). The vegetable is eaten right across southern Asia, from India to Vietnam, and is also popular in Eastern Europe. It is also a popular vegetable in Cyprus, where it’s eaten as an appetiser with lemon and salt.

Kohlrabi was first recorded in Europe in 1554, where the botanist Mattioli recorded that it has ‘lately come into Italy’. It was widely grown across Europe by the end of the 16th century, including in the UK – the soil seems to favour a wide range of root crops, from swedes and turnips to carrots and the much beloved (by me at least) potato. In some places, these same roots were used to feed cattle. Just about the only root vegetable that I can think of that hasn’t been used by both humans and animals is the sugar beet: it provides us with most of our sugar these days, but I have never heard of anyone roasting it or popping it into a coleslaw. Do let me know if you’ve heard otherwise.

‘My’ kohlrabi are purple-skinned ( I think the variety is known as Purple Vienna) but the colour doesn’t affect the taste or the colour of the flesh, which is always creamy white. You might be more familiar with the green variety.

Green kohlrabi (Photo Two)

Kohlrabi is a good source of fibre and Vitamin C and K, and contains trace amounts of potassium, phosphorus and copper. Medicinally it has been used as everything from a cancer preventative to a weight-loss promoter, though studies haven’t proved its efficacy except as part of a well-balanced and varied diet. However, all members of the Brassica family punch above their weight in terms of all-round nutrition – there was a reason that my Mum always told me to ‘eat my greens’.

Now, you might think that a vegetable as striking as a kohlrabi would have appeared in numerous still life paintings, but in fact it is often disregarded in favour of more picturesque vegetables such as the cauliflower. I was very impressed by this work by a contemporary German artist, Manfred W. Jürgens – and as you can see he paints the humble kohlrabi with loving care and attention.

Red Kohlrabi by Manfred W.Jürgens

And here is a slightly menacing kohlrabi.

Still life with kohlrabi by Manfred W.Jürgens

And finally, a poem. I bet you thought that it would be difficult to find something featuring this strange and bulbous plant, but in fact I was spoiled for choice. Here’s the one that I liked best, with its intimations of the abundance of harvest, and the need, sometimes, to trust and to be generous. I hadn’t come across Donna Hilbert before, but I love this!

In Plowboy’s Produce Market
by
Donna Hilbert

I push my cart through Plowboy’s produce market
gleaning this song for the first days of fall:
broccoli cauliflower cabbage kohlrabi The price of red pepper is dropping.
Eggplant shines purple.
Bell pepper is green.
I watch an old couple choose stringbeans:
she fills their sack by handfuls. He frowns,
empties the bag back into the bin,
then turns each bean to the light
before dropping it in.
pattypan crook-neck pumpkin zucchini
A woman wearing a scarf tight at her chin
eats Thompson’s seedless from the grape bin.
Tokay Exotic Muscat Red Flame
At the melons, a man in white shorts, skin brown
as russet potatoes, swings a cantaloupe into his cart.
I think I’m in love.
Winesap Pippin Golden Delicious
where last week there were plums.
Old man, kiss your wife.
Wash your face in the juice of ripe fruit.
Put beans into your sack without looking.
Old man, we’re in Plowboys’s
every bean is perfect, every bean is right.

Photo Credits

Photo One by By Mecca Ibrahim from Richmond, UK – Me and Gary Rhodes, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=4331970

Photo Two By Secretlondon – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=361214

Dear Readers, of all the many things that you might expect to see in a medieval market town in Somerset, an eight-foot tall metal giraffe is probably one of the most unlikely. But we are staying in The Shrubbery Hotel in Ilminster and, peering out over the car park is a very fine example of the same. We are here for the final clearing out of our Aunt Hilary’s house, and so it’s a sad occasion (and a pretty dusty one too if the last visit was anything to go by). There has been a house on the site since the late 17th Century but the current building was erected in 1850, and very fine it is too. I love the honey-coloured sandstone of the hotel, and of the houses in the town itself. In the photo below you can see how the bits of the facade that have been cleaned up glow in comparison to the more heavily-soiled parts – The Shrubbery is on an extremely busy road, so I imagine the pollution levels are high.

The entrance to the hotel

Now, I do wonder if we’ve made the right choice of hotel because apparently there has been ‘paranormal activity’, with phones ringing in empty rooms, sightings of a Cavalier in the dining room (not a Cavalier King Charles spaniel which is quite a different thing), and several people being ‘touched in the kitchen and the cellar’. Well, anyone who touches me in the cellar is going to get a clip round the ear’ole as my Dad used to say, and I actually wouldn’t mind seeing a Cavalier, so I am agog. Somerset Paranormal Investigators UK used ‘scientific equipment and some old methods’ to see what was going, and reported disembodied voices coming from their walkie-talkies. You can read the whole story here, and I shall report back if I see anything more unusual than an eight-foot metal giraffe.

The tree outside also has more mistletoe than I have ever seen on a single tree.

Just look at it! The light was really bad but I definitely saw a large thrush chasing a woodpigeon out of one of the balls of mistletoe – probably a fieldfare, but I shall see what I can see in the morning when the weather is supposed to be better.

Ilminster really is a most attractive town – there’s more of that lovely stone and a fantastic wisteria….

The Minster church (technically St Marys) dates back to the 15th Century but has been extensively refurbished and renovated during Victorian times. It’s still a most splendid building.

But as usual it’s the quirky things that I like. The town cackles with jackdaws, these two drinking from a handy gutter.

Someone is selling ‘Tattoo Stones’ from a house on the main road.

I was impressed with these extraordinary planters, again on the main road.

And this splendid scare crow clearly wasn’t upsetting any of the corvids.

So, tonight we dine at the hotel, whilst keeping our eyes peeled for ghostly goings on, and tomorrow it’s off to the village of Broadway for another day of sorting through the remains of a lifetime. At a certain point you have to get past being sad, and just focus on the task in hand, and that’s what we’ll do. Let’s see how we get on.

London Planes

Dear Readers, have you ever noticed how many plants are named after cities or countries? This week, your mission (should you choose to accept it) is to match the name of the country/city to the photo of the plant. One mark for a correct match, one for naming the plant correctly.

As usual, answers in the comments by 17.00 UK time on Friday 26th November please, with the answers published on Saturday 27th November. I shall ‘disappear’ the responses as soon as I see them, but as always, I would counsel you to write down your answers first, in case you might be influenced by the brilliance of those who have gone before.

So, if you think that the name of the first plant indicates that it’s from London, your answer would be A) 1)

Onwards!

Place Names

1. London
2. Paris
3. Nottingham
4. Spain
5. Denmark
6. Canada
7. Italy
8. New Zealand
9. Wales
10. Portland
11. Japan
12. Russia
13. Mexico
14. America
15. Oxford

Plants

A)

B)

C)

D)

E)

F)

G)

H)

I)

J)

K)

L)

M)

N)

O)