GBMD: A Society Grows Great

Picture of a katsura tree at The Dingle Garden near Welshpool
Photo taken whilst standing beneath a Katsura tree at The Dingle, October 2014
NB This year's National Tree Week is 29th November to December 7th.

Comments

  1. Donna1 November 2014 at 12:43

    One of my favorite quotes...great image!

    ReplyDelete
  2. VP1 November 2014 at 13:23

    Thanks Donna - I wish there was smellovision as well, the scent of spun sugar at the time was wonderful!

    ReplyDelete
  3. rusty duck1 November 2014 at 19:12

    It's a magnificent tree, especially the scent!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. VP2 November 2014 at 00:35

      Indeed, we could smell it from quite far away :)

      Delete
  4. Mark and Gaz1 November 2014 at 19:14

    Fab tree, and spun sugar, mmmmm!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. VP2 November 2014 at 00:37

      I was at Knoll Gardens earlier in the year and I could smell the one they have there, even with a cold!

      Delete
  5. Casa Mariposa2 November 2014 at 17:40

    Such a beautiful and wise quote. :o)

    ReplyDelete

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Jack Go To Bed At Noon

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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
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Salad Days: Mastering Lettuce

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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
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