Coming in to land... on Wordless Wednesday

Have you hugged a tree today?

My sister-in-law is into hugging trees. Before she mentioned this to me it wasn't something I had thought much about except to dismiss it as some vaguely hippy thing to do.

 But I'm coming round to the idea....I've always liked to feel the texture of the bark on trees.

Have you ever felt the ridged thick bark of a Wellingtonia (sequoiadendron giganteum)? It's much softer than I expected and almost spongy to the touch.

These are one of the giants of the tree world. There's something iconic about them. The sequoia that grow at the House of Dun near Montrose were planted in 1856. That makes them slightly younger than our house! The tallest one was measured at 126ft (38.5m) in 1990.

The glossy colourful bark of the Tibetan Cherry Prunus serrula is also tempting to run your fingers over. It's so smooth and with just a few knots.

 or the  peeling bark of the Silver Birch Pendula jaquemontii

But lets not get too highbrow about this. It's just as good to hug a willow or a sycamore or any other kind of tree.

And not surprisingly it's now been discovered that it's good for you (and the tree?) It is said that plants and trees facilitate the cleansing and revitalizing of all of the stored up negativity and stress humans experience and give it a place to be absorbed. It's all done through vibrations, I'm told...

I'm not quite sure how much of the theory I would take on board but we all know that working in the garden with plants and trees is therapeutic.

There is even a " The Hug a Tree Project" site.  Here's the link

Even if people don't go around hugging trees, they do appreciate their presence and the benefits of the green leafy things in our landscape. Folk get a bit annoyed when officials start to cut  down the green leafy things without even a by-your-leave. Take my home city as an example. Edinburgh officials in their infinite wisdom thought that cutting down the trees along a stretch of the Water of Leith would help with flood defences. Can't work that out myself. I thought the roots of the trees stabilised the banks of the river preventing erosion and preventing flooding. Locals were furious and it was stopped at least temporarily. You can read about  cutting trees down in Edinburgh here.

If you want to hug a tree as part of a group or even en masse the official "Tree Hugging Day" is  March 9th 2012

But you can hug a tree any time, any day. I'm off to walk the dog and hug a tree or two along the way.  

Texture and pattern.......

Now that winters here, and flowers and plants to photograph are less abundant I've found it more challenging to take interesting photographs. So every week or so I've set myself a challenge to link photographs with a single word. For the past few weeks I've been looking at "Texture".

When I started out I had decided to look at texture in terms surface irregularities, repeated details, symmetry and colour..

The actual object was unimportant.  Often the shot was taken with the macro lens and was only a small part of the object. This emphasised the detail.

In terms of light and shade, I found that the best light for this type of image is side light. Side light will bring out the detail in any uneven surface by casting shadows.

Close-ups of the surface of a log showing the tiny fungi detail

The  symetrical detail on a pine cone.

More cone details

The stripes of a phormium leaf

Tubes from an insect chamber...

A Teazle seed head...

Fatsia Japonica leaf. The gloss on the surface helps to highlight up the network of veins.

A close up of a rusty surface, the colours accentuating the texture.

 The symmetry and sheen of the feathers on one of our hens. Once again the light catches the shine on the feathers and emphasises the texture. She was highly suspicious of the camera.... and so this photo is the best of a bad lot!

And the Liebster Award goes to....

Me!

My acceptance speech (with apologies to Gwyneth Paltrow, Sally Field and Hallie Berry)

This is so unexpected, I don't know what to say....

I'd  like to thank  Elaine at "Woman of the Soil" and  Lorna at "The Green Lady" Two great blogs and previous worthy recipients of Liebster Awards.

I'd like to thank all my fellow bloggers who have taken the time to read my blog and left comments. And all the people that have contributed to the blog knowingly or otherwise. 

I'd like to thank all my friends and family (sob) for their support and P for proof reading my blog. When there are typos and /or spelling mistakes it means that my enthusiasm has got the better of me and I've published before he's read it (or I've re-read it)

I'd like to thank my school teachers for taking the time to teach me to read and write.


I'd like to thank Apple Mac for making a great computer for me to work on.

I'd like to thank Canon and Nikon for providing the camera equipment if not the expertise to use it.

I'd like to thank my mother for passing on her gardening genes even if I wasn't that keen when young. Reasons are contained in a previous post called "Blunt spades and Pink Phlox".

Thank you again for this award. It means so much to me!

My five recipients of this prestigious award are as follows:

Stacy at Microcosm

Pen at So Many Herbs so Little Thyme

Denise at denisnoniwa

Bertie at What Ho Hidcote

Laura at PatioPatch

If you haven't visited any of of these blogs now's a good thyme....

There is no pressure to accept this award. It's been an incredibly busy time of year and you may just want to lounge about  and recover ... but if you do this is how to go about it...

1. Copy and paste the award on your blog.

2. Thank the giver and link back to them.

3. Choose five blogs which you would like to pass the award on to and let them know by leaving a comment on their blog.

* the chosen blogs should have less than 200 followers

Colour and contrast...

The thermometer in the car today read 3C. It didn't feel that warm on our walk with the dog at St Cyrus this morning. The wind chill factor made it feel more like -3C especially when we turned back towards the car park.

You may remember that I wrote about our summer walk at St Cyrus in an earlier post in 2011. On that occasion a strange thing happened. My stats showed an enormous hike in the number of visits from of all places... Russia. But I realized its all in the name. The Eastern Orthodox Church recognizes St Cyrus as one of their saints. I hope they weren't too disappointed to find a gardening blog.

Maybe I'll get a similar hike in numbers today....

What is particularly appealing about St Cyrus on a sunny winters day is the landscape and the colours and how much the light changes in an hour.

At the start of the walk, the winter sun lights up the warm muted tones of the landscape and it is further enhanced by the stormy gray of the sky.

The golden brown of the dead bracken fronds.

The gorse is still in flower and it's acid yellow screams for attention.

Even towards noon the sun is low in the sky and accentuates the shadows.

The intensity of the blue sky contrasts with the more muted hues of the greys, browns and greens of the cliffs.

The only bright green in this drained winter scene can be seen in the gorse bushes and the moss and grass that line the path.

Other yellow colour is apparent in patches on the rocks. This is the vivid ochre yellow of the lichen xanthonia parietina  (Golden Shield lichen)is emphasised by the almost neutral gray of the rocks. The lichen is found in sunny exposed places.

We had meandered along St Cyrus paths many times before we noticed this finger of rock or stac.. What excitment. Imagine we had never noticed it before. The only reason we noticed it on that occasion was because of sun casting a shadow and  throwing the stac into stark relief. It was easy to spot today as well.

On a dull day the rock can still be seen (by the those in the know) as it's top is covered with more golden shield lichen unlike the surrounding cliffs.

Hogmanay in Scotland

Well, it's that time of year again and most Scots think that nobody celebrates Hogmanay (New Year's Eve) quite like us.

It's come a long way from the frankly, cringe making "White Heather Club", Andy Stewart et al that I grew up with. And some of the traditions aren't as popular as they once were.

Christmas until recently was not celebrated in Scotland.  The winter Solstice holiday and the giving of presents happened at the New Year. Many Scots worked at Christmas until about the 1950s.

The Hogmanay traditions included cleaning your hoose (house) before the New Year. Nobody visited family, friends or neighbours until after the bells at Midnight, known in these parts as "first footing". With a bit of luck your first foot would be tall dark stranger (very unfairly women and redheads need not apply). George Clooney would just about fit the bill. I wonder if he has our address?

 George would be bearing symbolic gifts in the form of whisky...

a lump of coal...

 and a piece of black bun (that's a rich fruit cake)

Hogmanay in Scotland and in particular in Edinburgh is a big event and many tourists flock there for the torchlit procession (a throwback to Pagan times) Hogmanay concerts and fireworks. The growth of street parties has mirrored the decline in first footing locally. After the bells are rung to bring in the New Year everyone joins in the singing of "Auld Lang Syne" by Rabbie Burns.

Looks a bit crowded down there. I can't believe we used to be in there somewhere a few years back.

 

Another big night is in Stonehaven up the coast on the way to Aberdeen where they have a fireball Festival at Hogmanay. A few chosen townsfolk carry giant fireballs, weighing up to 20 pounds and birl (swing) them round their heads before eventually throwing them into the harbour. It's quite a sight.

The origin of the pre-Christian custom is believed to be linked to the Winter Solstice of late December with the fireballs signifying the power of the sun.

So wherever you're bringing in the New Year.....Siante! (Cheers!)

That was the year that was...

I've put together some seasonal photos that highlight the garden in 2011. The photos were all taken in the past year.

Spring

Fritillaria Meleagris ( Snakes Head Fritillary) . We grow several different fritillaries. They are very delicate with their nodding heads and beautiful patterns. The white one provide a good contrast.

 

Clematis Alpina "Constance" This climber has grown at an incredible rate and gets covered in a profusion of flowers. We need to extend its support over the winter.

The fruit and vegetable garden in late spring full of promise (and plants in pots)

 
Summer

The Herb Garden in June.

 Part of the herbaceous border. It's becoming a bit of a thicket...

We had a bumper crop of strawberries this year.We grow Elsanta, Cambridge Favourite and Honeoye.

And some of the other crops came through well. But the courgettes and sweetcorn were almost non-existant due to lack of sunshine.

 Autumn

 The colours this Autumn were particularly vibrant.

And some plants were still trying to flower late in the year due to the mild weather.

  This photo was taken today. It's the last one in a series of photos taken from an upstairs window. It's all looking a bit sad but the trees, shrubs and wooden path give it structure. The Griselinia littoralis, Fatsia japonica, ceanothus and bamboo provide green throughout the year

Thanks to everyone for the reading Planticru Notes and leaving comments. I've enjoyed browsing through all your blogs and having a peek into your gardens.
Here's to the start of another gardening (and blogging) year....

Ex Libris....

These are some of gardening books that I read in 2011.

Some are new and glossy and full of photographs. Some are older, with few photographs from second-hand book shops. Some were presents which makes them just a bit more special.

Rough Patch by Richard Bell is subtitled "A Sketch book from the Wilder Side of the Garden" It's written in the form of a notebook and provides a peek into part of his garden known as the "Rough Patch". Richard Bell shares tips on topics as diverse as composting, keeping hedgehogs safe, and making nettle soup. 

It has well observed fun drawings of the wildlife and plants that he has watched in his garden. The prose is full of information and humour. I think we should all have a "Wild Patch" somewhere in our gardens.

Richard Bell's Blog "The Wild West Yorkshire Nature Diary" is also well worth a look.

                                           

We've had the "One Straw Revolution" by Masaobu Fukuoka  for some time. When I say "we" it was bought  by P who found it a fascinating read. 

Two things prompted me to take it down off the shelf and read it. One was Elaine at " A Woman of the Soil" who recommended it and the other was a visit to the HOPE gardens in Arbroath. There they practice the principals laid out in the book by Masanobu Fukuoka.These are mainly along the lines of permaculture as we understand it in Britain. 

After years of experimenting with growing rice in the mountains. Mr Fukuoka concluded he best way to produce a crop was to keep it as simple as possible. Among his "natural" farming methods were that the ground should not cleared of crops but a clover grown as a green manure between the rows and in the orchard. No chemicals should be used or other modern agricultural practices.

I'm sure that there is a lot to be learned from this book, although I have not (so far) been very successful with green manures, for example, although I like the theory.

I hope to go back to the HOPE Garden in Arbroath next year to see this philosophy in action again.

The Thrifty gardener.

I like the idea that “gardening is something you do, not something you buy”
My mother would have loved Aly and her ideas from the growing of veg in among flowers to the idea of working with what you have. You don’t need to throw money at the garden to get things to grow. Alys illustrates the point that gardening is a process and the garden should evolve... it’s mainly a "how to" book and is very pertinent for these austere times when more people want to grow their own. It’s also got several projects in the DIY dept. Growing and making your own is not only fashionable but very satisfying. Did you know that you can even make your own PH tester using red cabbage? Alys is a mine of useful information and has a quirky approach to  gardening that appeals to me.

Cleve West is best known for garden design (Best in Show winner at Chelsea in 2011)
Cleve West and his partner Christine are serious allotment holders. They got their first plot in 1999 long before it became fashionable. What it is not is a definitive guide to growing vegetables (look to the excellent Joy Larkcom's “Grow Your Own Vegetables” for that) but there is more than enough practical advice to interest most veg growers.

It is full of very seductive photographs of plentiful crops. But the book isn’t just about what Cleve and Christine grow on their plot. It takes in the whole culture that goes with having an allotment from the ubiquitous garden shed to the social events and the friendship forged over the runner beans. The cooking the meals and family social events seem to feature prominently.  Cleve doesn't ignore the difficulties associated with allotment gardening.  Disputes can arise,  finding enough time to garden can be problematic as can what to do when things go wrong.

Cleve has written about allotment growing in both Gardens Illustrated magazine and the RHS magazine “The Garden”. What a pity the BBC didn’t get him to do the allotment feature on Gardners World rather than Joe Swift....

This is a book to drool over and although verging on a coffee table book it does give the reader an insight into some of the landscapes, places and objects that inspired and influenced Dan Pearson, the landscape designer. Many are natural ocurrances but there are also many that have been influenced or built by man.

  Amongst these are some that I recognize. I too saw Amish Kapoor’s “Marsyas” in Tate Modern. It was a monumental installation that filled the main space. The red funnel was almost overwhelming in it's scale. Could I have been unwittingly standing next to Dan Pearson at some point and never noticed?!!

He also mentions the work of Richard Serra. Dan saw his work in a private garden in the States and I went to an exhibition of his work at the Guggenheim in Bilbao. His work involves enormous steel sculptures often side by side which encourage the visitor to test the acoustics as they walk between the two pieces of metal.

Dan Pearson's choices are very diverse with an amazing array of photos from his travels. Many of the places are now on my dream travel list....

Piet Oudolf is a renowned author and plant designer and highly influential in the new Perennial Planting movement.  His latest book "Landscapes in Landscapes" is a glorious full-colour volume and features twenty-three of Oudolf's  public and private gardens, including his own evolving garden in Hummelo in the Netherlands, The text is provided by gardening author Noël Kingsbury who had collaborated with Piet Oudolf on other books, notably "Designing with Plants" . 

The outstanding garden for me in this book is "The High Line" in New York . Originally it was a railway line used to carry freight across the city. To make it into a garden was an inspired use of the space. This garden also features in the latest Gardens Illustrated Magazine.

The photographs that fill the book are stunning and highlight the use of perennials throughout the year. The gardens themselves vary in scale and geography. One drawback is the size of the plans. They are so small and detailed as to be impossible to read without a magnifying glass. It's frustrating and slightly overwhelming.
                                           
 Landscapes in Landscapes looks as if it should be on a coffee table rather that crammed in with other books on a shelf. It's the sort of book that I would want to dip into again and again rather that read from cover to cover.