I love the fitful gust that shakes The casement all the day, And from the glossy elm tree takes The faded leaves away, Twirling them by the window pane With thousand others down the lane. John Clare (1793-1864) Before the […]
I question not if thrushes sing, If roses load the air; Beyond my heart I need not reach When all is summer there. John Vance Cheney (1848-1922) Although we are still in the grip of a pandemic, restrictions are gradually […]
‘Tis moonlight, summer moonlight, All soft and still and fair; The solemn hour of midnight Breathes sweet thoughts everywhere, But most where trees are sending Their breezy boughs on high, Or stooping low are lending A shelter from the sky. […]
I watched a blackbird on a budding sycamore One Easter Day, when sap was stirring twigs to the core; I saw his tongue, and crocus-coloured bill Parting and closing as he turned his trill; Then he flew down, seized on […]
I leant upon a coppice gate When Frost was spectre-gray, And Winter’s dregs made desolate The weakening eye of day. The tangled bine-stems scored the sky Like strings of broken lyres, And all mankind that haunted nigh Had sought their […]
It feels unusual to be contemplating winter, since at the time of writing in late September, we are experiencing a fleeting heatwave and are sadly, still in the midst of the pandemic. Whilst I cannot pretend that winter is my […]
We are living through extraordinary times as I write this article in June, a time that may go down in history as “The Lockdown”. It therefore seems appropriate, to describe some similarly extraordinary plants that I have grown in my […]
Warm summer sun, shine kindly here, Warm summer wind, blow softly here. Green sod above, lie light, lie light. Good night, dear heart, good night, good night. Mark Twain (1835-1910) Although I have a relatively small garden I manage to […]
