BS: Hedgerows and stuff

Subject: BS: Hedgerows and stuff
From: Sooz
Date: 30 Apr 06 - 12:53 PM

This afternoon we went for a long walk with Meg the wonder puppy. We are lucky enough to live in an area where there are still some some country lanes with hedgerows and wide verges. The lanes are the sort with tufts of grass growing from cracks in the tarmac which shows how few cars they see.

Spring has come quite late in this neck of the woods, but now the hedgerows are really beginning to fill out with blossom and new leaves. The blackthorn is a white froth and the hawthorn and elder won't be far behind. I have already earmarked a few collecting points with a view to making sloe gin in the autumn. Below the hedges, the verges are a sea of yellow with celandines, cowslips and dandelions and even a few early buttercups. The cowslips seem to be particularly prolific, which must be good news. (I wonder why so many spring flowers are yellow.) The nettles, thistles and goosegrass are just beginning to make their presence felt so nothing else will get a look in soon.

The pond in the field next to our house has the first ducklings swimming around and there is a lot of wild bird activity in the garden. I think we may even have a thrush's nest. I'm sure we have a wasp's nest but we haven't found that yet.

Oh to be in England now that April is nearly finished!

Subject: RE: BS: Hedgerows and stuff
From: Cats
Date: 30 Apr 06 - 12:59 PM

The lane we live in is a dual carriageway ~ two strips of tarmac with grass down the middle! If we are lucky we might get half a dozen cars or tractors a day. Yes it is wonderful. The cowslips are nearly over here, the bluebells are out, primroses are past their best and the hedes are a mass of different shades of green. At the end of our lane we have ancient broadleaf woodland and that is a real sight to se at any time of the year, but in spring it's special. Isn't it wonderful to live here?

Subject: RE: BS: Hedgerows and stuff
From: MBSLynne
Date: 30 Apr 06 - 02:20 PM

I think I've seen more cowslips this year than ever before, which is great. Our orchard is just breaking into blossom, with bluebells coming out under the trees. We have an enormous old crack willow and there is a bird (either a robin or a wren I think) nesting in a hole in it. A cuckoo calls continually down the fields behind the house. Blackbirds are nesting in the ivy covering an old wall. I'm afraid the hawthorn blosson is a long way away yet, but the bird-cherries and blackthorn are covered with blossom. I notice with a sinking heart though, that though my ash tree is now in leaf, the oak leaves are still just buds so we may be in for a wet summer.

Love Lynne

Subject: RE: BS: Hedgerows and stuff
From: Sooz
Date: 30 Apr 06 - 02:33 PM

The ash is way ahead of the oak here too, Lynne. Who believes those old country sayings??????

Subject: RE: BS: Hedgerows and stuff
From: Mo the caller
Date: 30 Apr 06 - 05:34 PM

Our bluebells aren't out yet (Cheshire) but everything else is catching itself up.
You just think its spring when it turns cold again though.
And signs of spring make you realise that all the preparation you should have done, is still undone.
Ah well.

Subject: RE: BS: Hedgerows and stuff
From: Mo the caller
Date: 30 Apr 06 - 05:35 PM

Twittering in my apple trees today.
Looked to see what it was; swallows. They look odd when not flying or on the wires.

Subject: RE: BS: Hedgerows and stuff
From: katlaughing
Date: 01 May 06 - 12:39 AM

Beautiful descriptions...I am green with envy.:-)

In the semi-arid desert region of western Colorado, the vineyard grapevines are just starting to leaf out, almost all of the peach, apple, pear, and plum trees have bloomed and gone to green. My iris are standing tall, but late to bloom and I think my tulips didn't get enough water as they look stunted and have never bloomed. It still gets chilly at night, so that may also ahve done something to them. The two little sweetpeas I planted last year are coming up, yes!! and i can hardly wait to see how big they will get and what colour they bloom.

We had a small outing about two weeks ago to see the very rare, for this area, few blooming magnolias and redbud trees. They were visions of floating white and an indescribable magenta. It takes a lot of care to grow magnolias in this climate so they are a real treat.

kat

Subject: RE: BS: Hedgerows and stuff
From: alison
Date: 01 May 06 - 02:05 AM

I always loved spring in Ireland - blue bells and harebells everywhere...... and lily of the valley.....
a lovely time for a walk through the woods



slainte

alison

Subject: RE: BS: Hedgerows and stuff
From: GUEST,Scooby Doo
Date: 01 May 06 - 10:24 AM

I remember my childhood on the farm with the bluebells in the copses and the primrose on the embankment,ragged robin growing too those were the days.I have primula growing in the garden with holly bushes.Just to remind me of my youth.
Scooby

Subject: RE: BS: Hedgerows and stuff
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 01 May 06 - 03:31 PM

We have passed the full-blown spring in North Texas and are looking at the dried heads on most of the iris, with just a few late ones still peeping through. Redbud finished, magnolias are still blooming here and there. Oaks dropped their tassles (ah-choo!) and the leaves have gone from light green to their robust summer green. It's still cool enough some evenings that a walk with the dogs might include a sweat jacket, though it is frequently tied by the sleeves around the waist before the walk is finished. We've had enough spring rains to revive things after last year's drought, but if you dig in any beds you'll find the soil below about 3" is still very hard and dessicated.

I was walking the dogs frequently in the small wood across the street from my home, but the poison ivy has grown with a vengence this year, so there's no going back until after our first hard freeze. Or someone knocks a path through with Roundup and a weed whacker.

Yards are filled with beds packed too full by gardeners who want immediate gratification--bring those flats home and cram the flowers close together for color tonight! Me, I spread them out and mulch in between so when they're full grown in a month or two they'll look marvelous. I am reverting back to seeds more and more, and the pleasure of watching a spot as the plants grow. And watching the pots that have sprouted again with last year's dropped seeds.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Hedgerows and stuff
From: TheBigPinkLad
Date: 01 May 06 - 04:15 PM

As an ex-pat this is the time of year I get homesick most. Where I live now in Canada has a maritime climate and is about 600 km south of where I grew up in England. As an outpost of Empire, it also has many, many plants from Britain which burst into life about a month before they do in the UK. For those Brits (and others ... why not?) who enjoy this annual miracle, there's a great site you might like to look at called UK Phenology (nothing to do with bumps on the head ;o) here: http://www.phenology.org.uk/

Subject: RE: BS: Hedgerows and stuff
From: Hawker
Date: 01 May 06 - 07:09 PM

Cats the cowslips you gave me last year have survived and flowered, they are at their best! At Heligan today the Rhododendrons were a riot of colour and the camelias too. The azaleas were just starting to bloom and all the fruit trees were heavy with blossom. The bluebells were just starting, I would love to go back again in a couple of weeks! Our ash is out before oue oak, Our swallows have returned from their warmer winter climes and I feel assured that summer is here and for me, rain or shine, the beauty of nature is a inspiration to us all.
Happy May 1st...... Summer is icumen!
Cheers, Lucy

Subject: RE: BS: Hedgerows and stuff
From: Keith A of Hertford
Date: 02 May 06 - 05:20 AM

Sad that our bluebells are under threat from the muntjack deer and the spanish bluebell.
Still, spring is as lovely as ever this year.
keith.

Subject: RE: BS: Hedgerows and stuff
From: Grab
Date: 02 May 06 - 07:04 AM

Round our way, I don't think I've ever seen blackthorn bushes with quite so many flowers on them. There's hardly a single bush where you can see the branches under all the flowers. It's as if they've been waiting all this time for the weather to be right, and saving their energy so that they could really go for it when things warmed up...

Subject: RE: BS: Hedgerows and stuff
From: GUEST,crazy little woman
Date: 02 May 06 - 10:29 AM

All sorts of things are blooming in Kansas City. Kansas City is a very leafy place. Irises, roses, pansies... But the best thing is that a mockingbird or two has moved in. Their singing and calling is delightful to hear.

Subject: RE: BS: Hedgerows and stuff
From: GUEST,Abby's dad
Date: 02 May 06 - 03:57 PM

I have recently addopted a Greyhound and as I was laid off work by the doctor have been walking her.
The last week I have seen, a Kingfisher,a pair of Buzzards, a Green Woodpecker, a Greater Spotted Woodpecker, Ravens, and my greatest thrill a pair of Perigrine falcons.

Subject: RE: BS: Hedgerows and stuff
From: GUEST,DB
Date: 03 May 06 - 04:32 AM

I live about 4 miles from the centre of Manchester (UK). Across the road from me is a relict meadow with Adderstongue Fern (although it was recorded in the floras from the mid-Nineteenth Century no-one suspected that it still existed until I re-found it). Yesterday evening I went looking for it again and soon spotted it beginning to re-emerge from its winter sleep. The site is terribly overgrown (which is why it was missed) - now all I have to do is to persuade the local authorities to do some management on the site ... easier said than done!