This week in the garden
Post categories: apples,Ìýgarden design,Ìýinspiration,Ìýnews,Ìýtrees,Ìýwildlife gardening,Ìýwinter colour
| 09:09 UK time, Saturday, 11 December 2010
In the news....
It could only be a matter of time. As inevitable as tinsel, fluffed-up robins and the arrival of Auntie Flo at nine sharp on the 25th, the annual obsession with mistletoe has begun.
wants everyone to buy home-grown mistletoe this year to support our vanishing orchards. Mistletoe, an odd but beautiful parasitic plant, lives mainly on apple trees: so more apple trees means more Christmas kisses.
You can always try : it takes perseverance, but you could be picking yours from the back garden a couple of Christmases from now.
On a sadder note, one of our most remarkable trees fell victim to vandals this week: someone took an axe to the oldest of the Holy Thorns, near Glastonbury in Somerset. The gnarled hawthorn tree is, legend has it, . It's not the first time it's happened: Cromwell's soldiers hacked down Holy Thorns in the 17th century to stop pesky pilgrims turning up. But at least they gave a reason.
Elsewhere on the web...
Gardeners everywhere have been a-buzzing and with news of Monty Don's return for the new series of Gardeners' World on Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú2Ìýnext spring. 'The Lord of Cord', as he's somewhat irreverently known to and others, has been welcomed with open arms by many, though some reactions were less happy. It even .
Several bloggers have been out capturing the while in Shirl's garden byÌýstarlings, bluetits, bramblings and chaffinches.Ìý Esther, sadly, is . It doesn't have to be this way; not when experienced garden designers like Chris Barnes are offering , with some cracking plant combinations.
Finally, one of those posts which makes you fundamentally re-think how you garden is the article by John Walker on the seemingly inescapable . Thought-provoking stuff.
Out and about...
He gets about, thatÌýMr. Claus. He's splitting his weekends between in Sussex, and up till Christmas, and that's not even counting the in Northumberland. He's also to be found in , Co. Antrim, Northern Ireland, along with the World of Narnia, Alvin and the Chipmunks and a live reindeer. He must be worn out by Christmas Eve.
Those after something not involving fat men in red overcoats can try Christmas foraging – at Lily Hill Park in the Blackwater Valley, Berkshire, you can load up with next Saturday. Or join the gardeners for an early in the orchards of in Cornwall. There's singing and banging large sticks involved: something about chasing away evil spirits and ensuring good apple crops next year. Sounds like a good excuse to drink a lot of cider to me.
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