It’s a time in the annual cycle that I have come to appreciate more and more over recent years. The beginning of August seems to bring a shift in the ‘feel’ of the summer. After the heady freshness of June and the hectic weeks of July, we somehow move into a period where the naturalContinue reading “Lammas in the garden”
Category Archives: Dumfriesshire Garden
A distracted month of June in the garden
Three things obscured serious attention to the Dumfriesshire garden this month. I was heavily involved in the logistics of ‘launching’ my first novel. We were away on a short but garden-rich holiday in the Cotswolds. At home, the weather was unpredictable, occasionally too hot, sometimes cold and breezy, and mostly very wet!
May be or May be not
In my forthcoming debut novel and in effulgent terms, I describe May in south west Scotland, where I live. May can be the finest month in the Nithsdale year. Through the woods, bluebells nod in drifts. Along the loanings, cow parsley froths and swaggers. The lovely campion and cuckoo flowers are everywhere in the grassland.Continue reading “May be or May be not”
April come she will
April can seem full of deception. Promising much, then failing to deliver. Eulogized by the poets for its splendour, but also exposed by them as painful and cruel. The gateway to Spring, it still has frost on its back. Not for the first time in my life, I associate it this year with death andContinue reading “April come she will”
When Spring arrives
The man of March he sees the Spring and wonders what the year will bring* My early days of March are blighted by a heavy cold that vitiates productivity. The flu-like symptoms are made worse as our household struggles with the loss of a dear friend. On the weather front, it’s a month of hail,Continue reading “When Spring arrives”
February’s charms and alarms
The February man still shakes the snowFrom off his hair and blows his hands (1) For the Romans it was a month of purification. British weather lore declares it brings rain or snow, or both. The Venerable Bede called it the month of cakes. From Brigid to Valentine, many saints are associated with it. TheContinue reading “February’s charms and alarms”
In and around the garden: some fragments from January
The January man he goes around in woollen coat and boots of leather (1) The year begins with weather warnings. Frost settles into the garden ground and doesn’t move. Motivation is low. Piles of hazel thinnings lay unsorted or trimmed. Tall herbaceous plants, long past the ‘interesting in winter’ stage need cutting back. Leaves areContinue reading “In and around the garden: some fragments from January”
An A-Z of 2024 in the garden: Zen influences
On a spring break this year at a well known family resort, I noticed that adjacent to the ‘spa’ and overlooked from the heated recliners was something called a ‘Zen garden’. I have to say I was quite taken by it and for some months pondered how something similar might be created in Dumfriesshire. Yes,Continue reading “An A-Z of 2024 in the garden: Zen influences”
An A-Z of 2024 in the garden: Year ending
It’s always a delight to see these catkins as the year is ending. Bright, shining, moving in the breeze, they are an inspiration for the year ahead. But elsewhere in the Dumfriesshire Garden there are still plenty of reminders of the year that’s coming to a close. The pictures below also have their own beauty,Continue reading “An A-Z of 2024 in the garden: Year ending”
An A-Z of 2024 in the garden: Winter and its tasks
The tasks of winter in the garden, it seems to me, are twofold. On the one hand there are practical things that need our attention. Pruning out the hazels, tidying up the rose arch and the bentwood hornbeam tunnels. There is some strimming to be done in the longer grass where daffodils and narcissi willContinue reading “An A-Z of 2024 in the garden: Winter and its tasks”
Quotidian 