“Any nose may ravage
with impunity a rose.”
- Robert Browning
Summer at last; Midsummer’s Day was weather perfect. Being a
Monday, some had to go to work but many, I’m sure, took advantage
of the long evening to go for a stroll or sit outside with a cool drink.
Our summer days are transient but that’s what makes them so precious.
“Gather ye rosebuds while ye may, Old Time is still a-flying,
And this same flower that smiles today, tomorrow will be dying.”
- Robert Herrick
My garden has many roses in bloom and one old favourite is a moss rose, (Rosa centifolia muscosa). No one has yet discovered exactly when the first cabbage rose modestly clothed itself in moss but it was known to have been growing in the Botanical Gardens in Leiden in 1720 and made its first public appearance in England in Robert Furber’s 1727 catalogue. Few flower lovers can resist the appeal of those cosy little buds and they have also been the subject of many an artist. As charming as it is, its drawbacks include a short blooming season and a susceptibility to mildew. A moss rose to be recommended is William Lobb, named after the gardener and plant hunter by its breeder, the Frenchman Jean Laffay, in 1855. According to the writer Michael Sidney Tyler-Whittle, Lobb used to risk his personal safety while plant hunting “to the point of lunacy”. Our gardens are full of plants discovered by these lunatics; thanks to them, we only need pop down to the garden centre for our planting treasures.
Tim and I have been relandscaping part of
our back garden so a goodexcuse to acquire some new plants to suit. We had
many birds inspecting the work in progress; robins and young blackbirds in
particular came to claim any worm, beetle or other tasty morsel that we
might unearth or disturb. One young blackbird has become so tame that it now
joins me whenever I’m gardening. One afternoon, after we had been grubbing
in the soil together, the youngster sat down beside me while! had a coffee
break and it actually nodded off. I’ve had some lovely bird sightings
lately; one of the best of which occurred one slightly misty morning at
about 8 o’clock when a beautiful barn owl flew across the garden from the field towards
the High Street. On a recent warm morning, I was sitting in the garden doing
my usual batch of drawings to accompany my article, when! looked up and saw
the distinctive shape of a red kite. I noticed that its feathers were
slightly tatty, (nesting birds often get a bit careworn), before it slowly
circled on the thermals, soaring ever higher until it sailed off in the
direction of Thurleigh Airfield. A couple of days later there was a buzzard
overhead performing the same manoeuvre. It’s lovely to see the kites and
buzzards making a comeback. Some people worry about birds of prey taking
songbirds but predatory creatures rely on a healthy stock of prey. Many
small birds and mammals have lots of young specifically because so many of
their offspring are destined to become dinner. Nature,
plain and simple. Pleasingly, the more birds of
prey we see, the healthier the local stock
of prey creatures
must
be. Yellowhammers, which I started to see occasionally earlier in the year,
are now regular visitors to the bird
table. A family of long-tailed tits spent the best part of a day in the
garden - the youngsters being very
scruffy but so cute - and a striking male bullfinch often puts in an
appearance. In the village generally, there seems to be a noticeable
increase in the sparrow population;
this little bird, once so common, declined in numbers greatly but now seems
to be on
the way back.
