I was walking back along North Hill last week after seeing Limbo at Jackson’s Lane – a busy road on a busy evening – when I heard bird song. Surprised at any bird braving what was a fairly chilly dark night, let alone giving voice, I stopped to listen. Apologies for the traffic noise but I was impressed that he (she?) was cutting through so successfully. Question. What was the bird?……
The winter garden
The wild profusion that had taken over the garden in the summer has finally either died back of its own accord or has felt my secateurs upon it. This means that a number of my carefully positioned specimen plants which had been entirely smothered by the rampant geranium Rozanne (absolutely not knocking it but it sure does take over…) are getting their moment in the weak winter sun. Such as the little pittosporum Irene Patterson you can see at the back of this image, and my baby corkscrew hazel at the front.
It is also allowing the yellow and red stemmed acer whose label, infuriatingly, I seem to have lost, to come into its own. If I could only find another of them I would turf out the other small acer beside it so I had two ‘winter glories’ as they are so great to look out onto on a cold morning. (And yes, I know they are going to grow evenutually into sizeable trees but I am reckoning that will take a good few years – by which time I will be pushing up the daisies beneath them so it will be someone else’s problem!)
Mind you, the mimosa that you can just see in the back ground is doing its best to disprove that theory. In the two years that it has been with me it has shot up and despite having its taller branches lopped twice, it is already knocking on 40 foot high. And down at ground level the artemesias that I had cut back from a metre high mounds to ground level are also pushing back hard.
Over on the other side of the garden the creeper bank down to the fish tank window of my study is doing just fine. With the surprising exception of the campanula all the plants have done well with the erigerons absolutely loving it. I think they would happily take over the whole space if let so, come spring I will trim those great mounds back fairly dramatically.
Meanwhile, the birds are still enjoying the protection of the apple tree while they munch their way through prodigious quantities of best seeds and fat balls…
…and Darby and Joan are enjoying the fact that they no longer have ferns waving in their faces – just the occasional bathing bird to keep them company.
In terms of flowers, nothing yet apart a slightly confused azalea which obviously thinks that spring has already arrived.
The big question is whether any of those bulbs I planted will come up – and whether I have fed enough sequestered iron to the large flame coloured azalea and the new white camellia for them to dazzle us in a few months time.
Jackson’s Lane Christmas Day gifts appeal
Blackbird? Merry Christmas!
Is It? I am SO useless about identifying bird song….. Merry Christmas to you too Tom – I hope you are having a good one – and prosperous new year!
Definetley a Robin, they are one of the last to go to bed, being encouraged to keep singing by street lighting.
Do you think? You sounds as though you know Linda so I am very happy to go with a Robin!
How lovely. I agree with Linda, that sounds like a Robin singing its little heart out. There is a great app you can download on to your phone called Merlin. It identifies birdsong in real time as you record it. I thoroughly recommend it.
The winter garden looks great. I love the Acer giving great colour with its bare stems. It can be selectively trimmed and shaped in late winter before the leaves unfurl in the spring. This gives you the opportunity to keep it to the size you wish each year. Personally, I would choose a couple of smaller cornus or salix with orange or red stems to keep it company if you have space. It is easy to colour match them at this time of year as you can see the colour of the stems of plants on sale. You could even take a small piece of your Acer with to help you decide? If you need something with summer flowers, how about Kerria japonica? It would look lovely alongside Acer foliage and can be trimmed back to maintain a smaller size.
Good luck with your garden in 2024. I will always think of you whenever Isee Ice Follies growing or for sale. Bring on the bulbs!
Hello Emma – how lovely to hear from you. We’ll go for a robin then! I have heard of that app so must down load it. It is fine if they are singing on their own but once there are several birds together I am totally lost!!
Good thought about trimming the acer – I had definitely planned not to allow it to go mad but was reluctant to take off any of those red stems before I absolutely had to. What is the salix with an orange stem? I have been looking on line and can’t see anything.
The acer was in fact a replacement for some cornus. I had struggled with cornus for years at Lawn Road as I always thought how great they would look down at the bottom of the garden in winter – but of course that meant that they were not in full sun so never did well. Then I tried moving them into pots which I could put in the sun in the summer – but they didn’t like being in pots….. I was going to try again here as the border gets much more sun but then I was in our really excellent garden centre about a year a ago and saw this acer. I talked to one of the garden centre people who recommneded the acer as being a MUCH better option than the cornus. And in fact, since working so much in the Hill Garden in Hampstead where they have enormous quantities of cornus, I realise that they work far better in large swathes rather than in just one or two plants. However, I might think about the Kerria Japonica – thank you for that.
Ah, the Ice Follies! No more Nike ticks on my lawn I am afraid- they were beautiful but they were somewhat of a mixed blessing – three months of ever more drooping leaves in return for one month of glorious flower!!
Menwhile, I hope all is well with you all – and wish you a very happy new year!