Skylark

The Lark

The lark, that shuns on lofty boughs to build

Her annual nest, lies silent in the field.

But if the promise of a cloudless day,

Aurora smiling, bids her rise and play, 

Then straight she shews, 'twas not for want of voice,

Or power to climb, she made so low a choice:

Singing she mounts, her airy wings are stretch'd

T'wards heav'n, as if from heav'n her notes she fetch'd.

Edmund Waller (1606-1687)

It started off a wet, cool and dismal day here in Knebworth on the Spring Bank Holiday Monday, but it did fine up and the sun did try its best, although with little success, to break through the heavy low cloud. 

We hadn't much planned, but decided to go out for a walk through the fields at the back of the recreation ground. The fields are full of rapeseed plants that are now fading back, I think the aroma of the flowers would have been too overpowering for me if they had been in full bloom still. 

We veered off a path to the right, away from the busy recreation ground were families were enjoying walks and ball games and children were busy amusing themselves on the play areas. The path took us away further into the peace and quiet of the countryside and into the depths of acres of fields. All we could hear was birdsong and then we spotted our first sighting of a skylark in a long time. There it was sitting tall on the foliage of a rape plant, singing its heart out. 

As we got further into the farmland, it became clear there was a whole flock of skylarks nesting in the deepness of the rape plants and grasses on either side of the pathway. It was as though we were suddenly walking through the dawn chorus and had stumbled upon something unexpectedly magical. It was one of those surprising and enchanting moments that make you stand still and listen and watch carefully to capture the minute. 

We watched as the skylarks sang and chirrupped their pleasant, liquid warbling songs on their low perches. They would take flight with their fluttering broad wings, flapping and gliding over their territory, rising high and then parachuting down again. 

We continued on with our walk and edged further towards woodland and civilisation, the singing became fainter and fainter and then the mellow blackbird song became more prominent from the woodland, together with the low cooing of the wood pidgeons.

We made our way back home again and as we came back to the recreation ground I felt as though I'd stepped back into the real world again. For a short while I'd been entranced and back in those childhood days of summer, Enid Blyton books or in one of those 'old' poems about the countryside. 

And just to think the skylarks are there in all their glory, right behind where we live, just the park and recreation ground between us and I never knew. In all the years we have lived here. I was pleased we went for that walk, as I hadn't felt very motivated that day and now I felt uplifted! 

The Heaven- Soaring Lark

The heaven-soaring lark, its rapture spent

On morning's quest

Drops down again, soul satisfied, content

Unto the nest

O singing soul, chafe not, that by earth's chain

Thou seemest bound! -

The sky's true messenger did ne'er disdain

The lowly ground. 

Mary Eleanor Roberts (late 19th early 20th century)

A Green Cornfield

The earth was green, the sky was blue:

I saw and heard one sunny morn

A skylark hang between the two,

A singing speck above the corn;

The cornfield stretched a tender green

To right and left beside my walks;

I knew he had a nest unseen

Somewhere among the million stalks. 

Christina Rossetti (1830-1894)

Budding First Roses

Here they are, they are full of buds and bursting, the first of this summer's roses are out! We have rambling roses on the arbor and at the front of the house and a variety of rose bushes in our south east facing border in the back garden. They have yet to peak at their best in full bloom, but I love it when they just start to peep out as it always feels like summer is definitely coming. They are earlier this year I think, but that's good as it's like they are saying summer is here!  

Our roses were planted before we moved to our home, so I don't have the variety types - one day I will  try and identify them, but for now here are few pictures of those first buds and blooms...

The Rose

The lily has a smooth stalk,

Will never hurt your hand,

But the rose upon her brier

Is lady of the land.

Theres sweetness in an apple tree,

And profit in the corn;

But lady of all beauty

Is a rose upon a thorn.

When the moss and honey

She tips her bending brier,

And half unfolds her glowing heart,

She sets the world on fire. 

Christina Rossetti

Roses

You love the roses - so do I. I wish

The sky would rain down roses, as they rain

From off the shaken bush. Why will it not?

Then all the valley would be pink and white

And soft to tread on. They would fall as light

As feathers, smelling sweet: and it would be

Like sleeping and yet waking, all at once

George Eliot

Roses

There is a time when the roses bloom 

Sweet and fair,

And the warm noon air

Sates itself with the rich perfume,

And the night - wind sighs through the scented gloom,

Sweet is the time when the roses bloom.

HM Waithman

What's in a name? that which we call a rose

By any other name would smell as sweet; 

Shakespeare

Plants for late May

So much has come into bloom during May I can't keep up with it! Here are a few more plants that are blossoming and will probably last into summer.

Climbing hydrangea

This climber is by our front door and gives a beautiful display through summer. I love its big, broad blooms coupled with delicate sprouting smaller flowers. It still looks attractive when the heads fade back giving subtle autumn colour. The flower heads can also be picked and dried for flower displays. 

Foxgloves. I know you find foxgloves in the wild, but I love the 'cottagey' look they give to the garden and how they pop up in different places in the borders each year. You never know where you will find them next. We let them just get on with it and seed themselves where they fancy. It always guarantees a surprise for next year! 

 

Catmint. One of my favourites for good ground cover - saves a lot of weeding and gives a lovely blue, whispy summer's day look to the garden.

Valerian. With its fierce bright flowers this plant grows easily, even in paving cracks. We have it in a wild area amongst some blackberry bushes in a dry raised bed in the wall of the front garden and it has seeded itself amongst the plants in a shady, dry bed under conifer trees. It is a common wild plant, but there's always room for a wild plant or two in our garden if they can put on a colourful and vibrant display! 

This border is in a small, shady and dry patch underneath the conifer hedge and between the parking space on the front garden. It is looking lovely and probably at its best at the moment. It is a mix of low growing golden conifer shrubs, blue aquilegas, californian lilacs, blue cornflowers and in the foreground valerian. 

Just when the yellow marigolds have finished blooming by the pond, the golden irises have appeared. I love irises. 

The poppies are back again too in shades of scarlet red and peachy pink. They never disappoint and never fail to give a fabulous display. They need to be staked though or they will be squashed down with the rain. Thank goodness we managed to do that just in time with the weather we have had this week! 

Dianthus. This small little alpine flower grows easily anywhere around the garden. Its name means 'divine flower'. It does well in pots, troughs, raised beds or any little corner of a rock garden. 

First signs of the pink geraniums. These are another plant that are great for ground cover. They can be split and planted in pots and borders around the garden each season. They will be full of flower in June and continue flowering well into autumn if you dead head them now and again. 

In the foreground is a small weeping tree called a cotoneaster.  It starts to bloom with small white flowers at the end of May and looks at its best in June. After the flowers have finished they form small bright red berries, which give off another superb display in autumn and during winter. 

More of those foxgloves peeping out! 

French lavender, this one was a gift from a friend, another favourite plant of mine. It flowers before the other lavenders we have in the garden and heralds a taster of what is to come. It is a favourite with the bees too! 

A closer look at the delicate weeping cotoneaster flower.

Heuchera. I love these plants with their dark copper evergreen leaves and their panicles reaching for the sun, filled with starry delicate flowers. 

May has been a busy month in the garden. I enjoy May, whatever the weather really, as it feels like the start of summer. If we happen to get good weather there is that feeling of a long everlasting summer ahead; if it's bad, then you just think, 'oh well, there is still all summer yet for some better weather.' 

In the meantime the garden is still growing frantically whatever the weather is doing, getting it ready for you to enjoy the summer whatever! 

Pots and Baskets

May is always the time when I make up my summer pots and hanging baskets. Out go last season's pansies that have now finished and it's time to renew the baskets with annuals that will keep on growing and flowering right through the summer. 

I like to have an array of baskets and pots by the front door and around any seating areas in the garden. When I'm sitting out, I like the feeling of being hemmed in by a jumble of colourful pots, brimming with colour and being surrounding by scented pots and climbers. 

It is always tempting when you visit garden centres or markets to start buying the bedding plants early, especially as it may be nice weather. They often start putting them out in April. I have been caught out in the past in my early gardening days and how ever tempted I feel, I resist and wait until near the Spring Bank Holiday. There is always that risk of frost, which may harm or kill the new delicate plants. 

I tend to stick to a few tried and trusted plants that do well in the areas where I have my pots. I always buy begonias, as they grow easily, don't need much fuss and they enjoy the shade too, so can brighten a shady spot. They can give an instant impact with their assortment of pink and white colours.  I also love bright red and pink pelargoniums, which I enjoy as they tend to come at their best right through mid summer to late autumn and can brighten areas up when most plants have finished blooming. Again, as long as you dead head them now and again and keep them watered, then they are easy to grow. These are the main staple two plants I usually use. 

I like marigolds and petunias, but my marigolds always get eaten by slugs and my petunias seem to get too leggy and burnt out by August, so I've stopped planting those now. I like things to be kept easy! This year we've planted up some diascia, cosmos and the old favourite lobelia to complement the begonias and pelargoniums. 

I have some pots filled with perennials such as campanula and alpine pinks and I mix small evergreen plants, heathers, alpines and ivy amongst the bedding plants. The bedding plants and compost can be just changed over each season then, but there are some main plants that can be kept in the pots or baskets until they become too big. We have also taken to planting wallflowers in pots too as they always put on a good show and will flower for quite a few seasons. 

We have planted some small pots of cherry tomatoes, we always do this, it's nice being able to pick your own fresh tomatoes in autumn and just bring them in straight from the garden. One last favourite of ours are sweet peas - we always have these on our patio at the end of the garden. When they are flowering you can see wafts of colour at the top of the garden from the kitchen or conservatory windows. It is always lovely on a hot summers evening to sit out at the top of the garden, catch the last of the day's sun and the scent of the sweet peas in the light breeze! 

We will see how they all grow this year...

We've planted a variety of cosmos in pinks and white.

A view across the pots at the front of the house. 

That's another one made up and hung back! 

Cosmos and evergreen box plants.

A little bit of topiary and a newly planted manger.

Diascia and dianthus making a lovely show.

Alpine pinks, white dianthus, begonias and pelargoniums

White begonia and pale pink diascia

Terracotta pots with purple wallflowers, lobelia and alpines all ready to make a show! 

Sweet peas on the top patio

Little tray of cosmos and begonias. I like to place spare terracotta bits around the filled pots as a bit of a display. I know where they are then if I need a spare pot or two! 

Little wall display with alpines and begonias. 

That was a busy couple of gardening weekends, pots all done and ready now to enjoy the summer. We just need be rain to stop...but then again, they are well watered at the moment!