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 […]
