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Aprilby Ken Clark - 17:37 on 22 April 2010Ken’s Nature notes. Finally we are now being rewarded with some fabulous colour; the first to hit me was a stunning purple flowering shrub on my way back from work; I think it must be part of the Azalea family. I could be wrong, it has been known, this shrub has the flowers first and then the leaves, if anyone can enlighten me please feel free.
The large poplar trees along the cricket club wall have been dropping their catkins, some as long as three inches and very dark red; a marvellous piece of creation when you examine them closely.
We have two blackbirds successfully rearing chicks in our garden, I was a bit worried when one of our neighbours cat started climbing up the hedge, I thankfully scared it off in time and it seems to have learned its lesson. With these blackbirds rearing so soon I wouldn’t be surprised if they are to have another brood shortly.
The bees at the allotment have survived the winter and are now very active collecting the early pollen from the spring blooms, I never realised the fantastic taste that pure honey produced locally could have and I am looking forward to tasting it again soon.
I was faced with a mysterious problem this week, it seemed I had a leak of some kind on the drive, I thought at first it was from my car, thankfully it wasn’t. Even on a dry day (its hard to believe but we have had some) the patch of liquid was still there. I have a pergola over the drive which supports a large ornamental vine; well this was pruned heavily in the autumn, as it was getting out of hand.
The mystery leak was solved this morning as I opened the drive gates and glanced up to where the leak would be coming from. It was from the Vine; the sap was dripping from only one of the branches that had been pruned earlier.
All the other branches must have dried up and healed, but it just shows the power that even a moderate climber like this vine has, when it comes to feeding the buds, pumping vast amounts of sap along its branches to enlarge and feed them. Can you imagine the amount of sap that large trees have to produce to feed their enlarging buds; incredible!
I have been out pruning this branch back to the fence in a hope that it will stop, but it is still dripping, I shall let you know later if it has harmed the vine.
Leeks of a different kind are doing well in the greenhouse, sown a week earlier with some red onions they have germinated well, also viola seeds collected last year and sown at the same time are also popping through; it is great what a little bit of sunshine can do, not only does it cheer you up but it gives the necessary warmth for the seeds to germinate.
The daffodils are still giving us a good show in the village and surrounding woods, these yellow blooms will be carried on soon by the dandelions, quite pretty in there own right but not very popular in the gardens, however they don’t need any special attention they come up every year without fail.
There is a small strip of conifers near the Wapping Bridge, it has a path running through it, and as I was wandering up this wood last week I noticed thousands of tiny seedlings growing on the woodland floor. I couldn’t identify them as they were still in their two leafed stage, they must have blown there by the wind, but I hope the mystery of what these are will be revealed soon. Watch this space!
More sunshine forecast but you still need your scarf handy.
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