GBBD: Blackthorn Winter


We've just emerged, blinking and rather wan, from the coldest March in over 50 years. Much of the garden is only just beginning to stir into life and after a day's warmth the blackthorn - which has remained tightly in bud throughout the cold spell - has rather ironically burst into bloom.

I say ironically, because a blackthorn winter usually refers to a late cold snap in late March or early April. Had it bloomed when it seemingly wanted to last month, then I'm sure we would have seen the phrase touted regularly around the weather reports. As it is, its blossoming now serves as a warning. We may at last have some longed-for warmth, but winter could just as easily return.

The blossom gives away its Prunus heritage (it's Prunus spinosa - an apt name): such starry flowers on bare branches. A simple flower, but beautiful nonetheless. Soon the petals will be strewn across my front garden like confetti. This year the blossom is prolific, which will be good for this effect and also bodes well for sloes in the autumn.

If I have my way these particular blooms won't get to form their sloes. Like many of its Prunus cousins, blackthorn suckers prolifically. The blossom you see is right at the front of our side garden and has wormed its way through from the public land next door. If I allow these to remain - and I should have steeled my heart a couple of years ago - their next stop is through the tarmac of our drive. Don't worry, plenty of blackthorn is close by as we have a rather fine hedgerow next to the house, so we will still get to forage for sloes later on this year.

Now the real gardening season begins. There's two months work to squeeze into one, which undoubtedly applies to the flowers too. I'm expecting some unexpected flowering combinations this year :)

Garden Bloggers' Blooms Day is hosted by Carol at May Dreams Gardens.

Comments

  1. colleen15 April 2013 at 09:32

    I was wondering whether late flowering blossom might actually be a good thing, if the weather doesn't spring any very late surprises. Much better than flowers in bloom and devastating frosts. And the bees - they'll enjoy it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. VP19 April 2013 at 10:20

      colleen - I'm thinking that too. A good period of cold means the fruit trees will have had what they need to produce a good head of blossom this year.

      Delete
  2. Sue Garrett15 April 2013 at 12:00

    At this rate the blackthorn and hawthorn may bloom together. I haven't seen much blackthorn blossom yet!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. VP19 April 2013 at 10:20

      You could be right - only a couple of weeks to go until the May is due to blossom here...

      Delete
  3. Lea15 April 2013 at 12:17

    Very pretty!
    Happy Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day!
    Lea
    Lea's Menagerie

    ReplyDelete
  4. Mario15 April 2013 at 12:33

    I'm happy you have 'some' blooms to look at following your cold March. We have had a late-entering Spring as well. The rays of sunshine are a welcome relief. Happy Spring!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. VP19 April 2013 at 10:21

      Welcome Mario! I love your Hellebore pictures :)

      Delete
  5. Pauline15 April 2013 at 16:24

    Thanks for leaving a message over at my post. I think you had a much harder winter than we did, you certainly had more snow! Our blackthorn blossom is over now, but was lovely while it lasted. Most of the hedges round here are hawthorn and they are starting to green up so I think spring is on its way at last!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. VP19 April 2013 at 10:22

      You're welcome Pauline. The hedgerow at the side of our house has lots of hawthorn too, so I'm waiting to see if Sue's comment comes true!

      Delete
  6. Janet/Plantaliscious15 April 2013 at 16:53

    Blackthorn is beautiful, but not in the middle of your tarmac! I see to have been waiting to see what colour the various tulips are for months now, but at least there are now recognisable stalks and buds. So please, no sudden return to winter, gardening tasks are already too compressed!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. VP19 April 2013 at 10:23

      Yes, they're very compressed - must get out there now!

      Tulips are just about to burst into flower here :)

      Delete
  7. Angie15 April 2013 at 18:50

    Whilst I agree it is a lovely blossom - I wouldn't want it in my drive either! Came out in time for Bloom Day, maybe it knew ;)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. VP19 April 2013 at 10:24

      I was lucky to spot the sun shining through the blossom the evening before Blooms Day, so I knew straight away what my post would be about this month. I've been wanting to write about Blackthorn Winter for a couple of years now, and the timing seemed right :)

      Delete
  8. Jo@awholeplotoflove15 April 2013 at 19:06

    I must take a look in the fields behind the house. I can normally make out the white of the blossoms from a bedroom window. I often wonder if I could fit one in the garden, it would appear sensible not to bother.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. VP19 April 2013 at 10:25

      The spines are quite viscious, so I think the blossoms best left to the view from your bedroom window.

      Delete
  9. Eleanor Ferguson15 April 2013 at 22:21

    Hi - determined to succeed with my veg plot so following you for tips. Pleased to report that the seeds I planted - rocket , mixed salad leaves, peas - have emerged so have put them on the windowsill as it says in the book. But they look a bit leggy compared to the plug plants I bought in B and Q. Does this matter? Have I done something wrong? And on your advice I've added my compost to my plot ready for the seedlings. Will put some pics on my blog later in the week.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. VP19 April 2013 at 10:18

      Hi Eleanor - no, legginess doesn't matter and you haven't done anything wrong. You can repot them and bury them up to their necks again. Now the weather's improved and we have more light (lack of light has been a problem for us all), they should continue growing as expected. Your plug plants will have been mollycoddled in a greenhouse with additional lighting, hence their difference to your seedlings.

      Looking forward to seeing your pictures :)

      Delete
  10. CJ16 April 2013 at 22:46

    The blackthorn is lovely, and I love the phrase "blackthorn winter". I shall be dropping that into conversation over the next few days I think. Blackthorn always feels very connected to the seasons to me; blossom in spring and sloes right as the season turns to autumn. Somehow it all feels very English, and I always get excited when I find some in the hedgerow. And I don't even drink gin!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. VP19 April 2013 at 10:26

      The Woodland Trust have a project which collects data on key seasonal indicators and the dates in which they appear. It includes blackthorn blossom.

      Delete
  11. Donna@Gardens Eye View17 April 2013 at 00:16

    We have the same thing here...a slow spring and 2 months of work into one...I wait to see what will bloom this year.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. VP19 April 2013 at 10:27

      It's getting closer to 3 months work into 1 for me now Donna!

      Delete
  12. Helen17 April 2013 at 16:43

    We always have two months' work squeezed into one – and often a sudden summer. Sigh. Thanks for introducing me to a colourful new (to me) gardening term.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. VP19 April 2013 at 10:28

      We're speculating on a 'sudden summer' this year too Helen. So far, spring seems to be here in person though...

      Delete

Post a Comment

I love hearing from you and welcome thoughtful conversations :)

Comments aiming to link back and give credence to commercial websites will be composted!

Your essential reads

That blue flower: A spring spotter's guide

Image
Spring is a prime time for blue flowers and my daily walks currently have several from the same plant family* lining the local footpaths. As I walked past the Donkey Field the other day, I overheard some children ask their parents** what the pictured blue flower was. It reminded me it's often mistaken for those other familial blues and this time was no different, as they said it was forget-me-not, instead of the green alkanet it actually is. As well as similar flowers, most of these plants are hairy in their nature, flower around the same time, and favour damp, shady places. Many of them are great for pollinators too, especially bees and this week's warm weather has certainly drawn them to these flowers. This makes it even more likely for these plants to be mistaken for each other and it's a great opportunity for me to put together a spotter's guide in case you find the same flowers on your outings. Staying with green alkanet, the key features which set it
Read more

Jack Go To Bed At Noon

Image
Last year this rather exotic looking flower appeared on mine and several other allotments for the first time. Having been stumped (again) by Mr Allotment Warden as to its identity, I rushed home to find out what it was. It's salsify, aka the marvellous Jack Go To Bed At Noon - named as such because its flowers always close by midday. Here you can see both open and closed flowers - making it seem even more exotic and alien than in the first picture. I think this must be the cultivated version because the flower in my Francis Rose Wild Flower Key looks exactly the same in form, but is bright yellow in colour and called meadow salsify . Its other common name is Goatsbeard, which must be a nod to the fantastic dandelion-like clock which forms the seed head. With 'parachutes' like those shown above, who knows how far our plotted plants came from. I rather like the photographic dissection of the seedhead found in this link . Salsify is edible: its lateral shoots and fl
Read more

Red Nose Day - Gardening Jokes Anyone?

Image
The nation goes ever so slightly bonkers on Red Nose Day - hurrah! Previously, it's been very easy to join in - usually via a dress down day at work plus lots of people up to mad things at the station and in the office. Everyone smiling for once - it's a real feel good day and all in a good cause. This year's different - every day's a dress down day for me now - my friend L suggested yesterday that perhaps I could have a dress up day instead and whilst that's a good idea, I confess that ballgowns and tiaras don't really feature in my wardrobe: scruffy student's always been my favourite look. So my Red Nose Day contribution for this year is to compile a list of gardening related jokes. For each one (clean ones only please) you leave in the comments below, I'll make a donation of 50p to the cause. Here's a few for starters just to get you warmed up: Q Why do potatoes make good detectives? A Because they keep their eyes peeled. Q What did the grape
Read more

Salad Days: Mastering Lettuce

Image
I've decided one of my salad challenges for this year is to grow as many lettuce varieties as I can, ready for the publication of my planned Factsheet* later on. The idea is to grow as many of the Tried and Trusted lettuce varieties last year's Salad Challengers helped compile, then provide a visual guide and as many lettuce facts as I can muster. So far I've found around half of those listed**. Then naturally whilst I was out searching - because such is the way with seeds - a number of other varieties found their way home too ;) A couple of weeks ago I sowed 22 varieties***. Just the simple act of sowing them has me intrigued. Why are some lettuce seeds black and others white****? They split into about half white to half black in my sample and as far as I can tell it's nothing to do with whether they're a type of cos, iceberg, or whatever. I sowed them indoors and popped them into a propagator on the windowsill. The soil's too cold outside for sowing
Read more

VPs VIPs: Derry Watkins of Special Plants

Image
Last week I had the pleasure of visiting Derry Watkins at her home, garden and nursery - the acclaimed Special Plants - just a few miles along the road from me. I first met Derry at one of her open garden days last year and was keen to find out more about her wonderful garden and running an independent nursery. She specialises in tender perennials and regularly goes on plant hunting trips to find new treasures, particularly in South Africa. As well as running Special Plants and opening her garden under the NGS scheme , Derry holds day courses at her nursery, hosts Special Tuesdays from April until September, lectures and has written a couple of books. How did you find your way from Connecticut to the UK? I'd started a biodynamic vegetable garden in Connecticut and we used to have people come along at weekends to help out. A particular young man turned up: he returned many times and at the end of the summer I married him. So it was all down to love? Isn't that the
Read more

#mygardenrightnow: heading into summer with the Chelsea Fringe

Image
Ahhhhhh, that's better! I love walking through dewy grass in bare feet, not that there's much in the way of grass on my back lawn this weekend. My wild and woolly lawn has morphed into meadow of sorts this month, which even NAH admits looks attractive*. It's also proved a great source for my Flowers for mum project so far, yielding self-sown perennial cornflowers, lamb's ears, and lemon balm in addition to the blooms you can see. These originated from elsewhere in the garden, the ox-eye daisies must have blown in from the A350 nearby. * = he got very stroppy about the weeds aka self-sown foxgloves in the lawn one year, so he's come along a bit since then. Skimble's demanding to say hello to you too. He does enjoy the patio when it warms up. If the embedded video doesn't work try this link instead. The Nectaroscordum are a revelation. I planted the bulbs around 2 years ago, but it's only this year they've bloomed properly. The bee
Read more

The Resilient Garden

Image
  Part of Tom Massey's Resilient Garden at RHS Hampton Court I've been pondering VP Gardens a lot lately. Last year's drought conditions set me off initially, then our harsher than usual winter combined with this summer's flip and flop weather means the thinking continues. It's a huge topic which I freely admit I'm struggling to get my head around. Tom Massey's Resilient Garden  at Hampton Court recently  tackled this topic brilliantly and was a timely interlude which gave me much food for thought. There he encapsulated the detailed research he'd found which informed both his show garden and book of the same name. I think it's one of the most important show gardens I've ever seen. It's clear the way I garden needs to change so that I have my own resilient garden. I haven't worked out the exact details yet, but Tom's book plus a couple of others (see below), alongside the rainwater management handout from the show garden's  sponso
Read more

Testing Times: Tomatoes

Image
  I've run a couple of tomato trials this year. The first is a revisit of the biochar trial with Oxford University I attempted some years ago (with a different organisation this time), and the second is a trial of a water gadget called Plantsurge which I was given to try at Malvern Spring Show earlier this year. Most of you have probably heard of biochar already and the claim that this inert, carbon-rich material can help soil fertility and plant health. The RHS information in the above link says results can be mixed, with reduced effects found in alkaline soils. This may help to explain the lack of difference I found in my previous trial as VP Gardens is on a lime-rich soil. Plantsurge is a different beast altogether. It's a strong magnet which is attached to a hosepipe as shown in the photo above. It's claimed that it softens water, with the result more like watering with rainwater. The higher nitrogen found in rainwater is thought to be beneficial to plants. Gardener
Read more

Chelsea Fringe 2014: Shows of Hands - Episode I

Image
The gloves NAH used to build the raised bed . The effects are L to R, top to bottom:  Original photo, Warhol, HDR, Green tint, B&W, Posterize, Boost, Cross process and Sepia Welcome to Shows of Hands - my Chelsea Fringe project for 2014! As you can see I've been having a bit of a play around in Pic Monkey for my first contribution. You're welcome to join in between now and 8th June 2014. The idea behind this year's project is to highlight the tool most precious to a gardener: their hands. How do I take part? It's simple. All you need to do is take a photo of hand(s) in a gardening context and then share it via your blog or other social media (such as Twitter or Facebook), then make sure I know you've done so. I've set up Mr Linky below for your blog contributions. The Chelsea Fringe photo on the right sidebar links to this post, so you can easily find it again when you're ready to add your contribution. If you share your photo on Twitter,
Read more

Make Use of Mildew

Image
On my garden patrol this morning I spotted some powdery mildew on a couple of my new Verbena bonariensis plants. I suppose it was almost inevitable as I prefer to grow my plants hard - this means no water for them unless they look absolutely desperate. This approach means plants root themselves more deeply and have a better chance of survival during spells of dry weather like we've had lately. However, it also means I run the risk of problems like today's, especially with any garden newbies planted late in the season. We've had a good drop of rain overnight, so this should help my plants survive. I'll mulch them later today to help lock in the moisture as it's water stress which encourages the mildew to take hold. I've also removed the infected leaves and sprayed the rest with a milky drink.* I'm also pleased to find there's a use for my infected leaves. Oliver Ellingham at Reading University has started a PhD - sponsored by the RHS - researchi
Read more