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In the July/August
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I
was talking on the ‘phone to a friend in Cambridge the other day and she said how marvellous the
bird song was coming through the telephone line.
The more the village becomes built up the more important it is to have green trees and leafy areas for the
wild life. I have masses of birds in my garden including a family of dun coloured starlings who bully their
mother to feed them despite being the same size as her. We have also seen mice, shrews and squirrels not to
mention rats and moles. We also have hedgehogs and last year we saw a dormouse.
Apart from the inevitable slugs and snails the creatures that do the most damage are the collared doves.
They are small and a pretty pinky grey but they do a fiendish amount of damage in the vegetable garden
eating peas, lettuces and brassicas.
When I talked about garden design in the past and mentioned planting bold clumps of vegetation and the
occasional tree I didn’t realise until recently how environmentally friendly I was being. I have just seen an
article in a Natural History magazine, which said that, the small average garden like this, Fig 1:-
is the worst possible design for bird life.
The alternative with one large “L” shaped border is much better, as it gives food, shelter and nesting sites.
Fig 2.
Another important feature of any garden is caterpillars. Not only do they feed the birds but turn into
beautiful butterflies. So, don’t clear away all the nettles and weeds. We all, I think, appreciate a variety of
butterflies on our Buddleias and sedumns.
I was sitting painting a flower in Gamlingay Wood in May. I was studying the flower and therefore I was
very still and a grass snake about 60 to 70cm long moved very torpidly towards me. He finally went into an
old tree stump and curled himself up. He took no notice of me at all. I don’t imagine that they have much
sense of smell and rely upon movement to keep themselves safe.
On the first weekend of June the Gamlingay Gardening Club had its final plant sale at The Emplins. This
is the eighteenth year that it has been held at this site. It is sad in that the event closed with a whimper not a
bang, as only about £ 200 was raised. There were neither as many plants nor as many people as previously.
The weather was cold with a cutting wind and only intermittent sunshine so people were not encouraged to
sit This was a pity because the cup of tea and a scone or a slice of delicious cake kindly provided by Sue
Izzard really made the day.
Next year Liz Tayler is kindly providing the venue. She has a very pretty garden in Cinques Road so watch
the Gazette next year for the date and address.
I visited an amazing garden at Exbury on the Solent in Hampshire in late May. The gardens were a truly
wonderful vision of azaleas, camellias and rhododendrons of every shape and size. They covered some 200
acres with tall forest trees growing through the shrubs.
The head gardener, who appeared to be a mere slip of a girl in her late 20’s or early 30’s was very keen and
knowledgeable. I said that she ought to continue the Exbury tradition of hybridising. She said that she
simply did not have the time at the moment as she only had 9 gardeners under her. If she could persuade the
de Rothschilds to employ one more she might be able to make the time. In its hey-day in the 1920’s and
1930’s more than thirty gardeners were employed there.
As the holiday season is with us once more may I remind you to make provision for pot watering. If you
are going away do remember that indoor plants flourish if stood on a thick mat of wet newspapers in the bath.
You need to protect the bath with a lining of dustbin bags or the newsprint could mark the enamel. I hope
that you can make time to sit and enjoy your own gardens and barbecues as well as doing some garden
visiting.
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