Pinkgills, Earthtongues, Fairy-clubs and Parrots In these islands there are no hedgerows adorned with hips and haws, orchards laded with apples or woodland walks full of glowing leaves and the chance discovery of spiky, sweet chestnuts, milky hazel nuts or golden chanterelles. Our native woodlands are confined to deep ravines where the rowans, birches and
Defining a Hebridean summer is like trying to catch sunbeams in a fishing net. In many respects it is like this post, you thought it had arrived only to discover that when you took a closer look it had mysteriously disappeared only to reappear a week later. As a scientist I should quote meteorological statistics:
The Head Gardener is a man of many talents and still surprises me with his ability to acquire new skills. The photographs of insects and fungi which often appear in my posts are his work and, although I always acknowledge his contribution when praise is offered, I think he deserves an individual paean of praise.
Ask any gardener designer to describe a garden and you will get the predictable mix of hard and soft landscaping, colour palettes and texture, formal and informal garden rooms and a selection of the latest meaningless buzz words from world of gardening glitterati – tactile, surrealist, matrix, herboretum …………….! As I am feeling particularly waspish
“Of necessity, he who pursues a very specialised task will do it best.” Xenophon On a still, warm summer day if you lie in the grass or stick your nose into the herbaceous border you can almost hear the sound of munching. A whole army of insect larvae are chewing their way through the foliage.