Happy Summer Solstice
Walking around the garden in the early morning sun I can feel the impending heat of the day. Curiously birds aren’t singing, perhaps I missed their four o’clock start and they’re having a siesta ahead of a busy day feeding and teaching fledged chicks.
I have loved our garden from the beginning and this year there is something more, something bigger. Change is happening, plant communities I started six summers ago are demonstrating they are becoming independent, allowing me to better spread my attention around other areas. For whatever reason Valeriana officinalis is thriving this year, after almost three years in stasis.
Change is happening within me too, it’s one of those years where I can feel the need for a new phase in my life. Spurred on no doubt by the passing of my dad back in January, the world hasn’t felt the same since. I feel a need to step up. That his death was when I became entirely adult. It’s not a bad feeling, a realigning of my life to better contribute to the world - to future generations. Seeing the responsibility of the platforms I’ve grown with your support. I am ready.
Today I plan to spend searching for my favourite orchid, the greater butterfly orchid, Platanthera chlorantha. I’m unlikely to be successful, it’s rare and inconspicuous, but it’s a good way to spend a day outdoors in beautiful wild places. I want to paint some landscapes, as I haven’t had a chance to pick up my watercolours for a while. And I plan to plant our squashes.
I continue my walk around areas of the garden taking photos to try and capture it - how it feels to me - to share with you, here, on the Wild Way. How beautiful it is with the excitement of many more plants yet to flower or fruit.
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10 tough plants for June spectacle
With the combined heavy rain and sunshine, our garden is going utterly bananas, the flowers keep coming and there are tonnes more to come! The even better news is, insects are suddenly abundant too, long may it continue.
Midsummer gardening
Solstice, on 21st June, is the scientific term for when one of the hemispheres of Earth is most inclined toward the sun on the planet’s orbit.
7 tough star plants for midsummer plant community design
As we approach midsummer, days are long, the garden is full of birdsong and a hum of insects. By carefully selecting some very reliable tough plants for colour and form you can help carry your garden into the warmest months with the least amount of effort. Allowing you to put your feet up and watch the scene unfold.
Deschampsia cespitosa | tufted hair grass
I guess I would be pretty chuffed if my hair looked like Deschampsia cespitosa, known as the Tufted Hair grass. I haven’t been able to find out exactly where the name ‘tufted hair grass’ comes from so I’m going to guess it is based on its tufted, light and airy hair-like growth.
Leucanthemum vulgare | ox-eye daisy
If snowdrops do the heavy lifting in winter, followed by pulmonaria in spring and then alliums in early-summer, it’s the ox-eye daisy that picks up the pace heading into mid-summer. Our garden is choc full of them because, well, I’ve let them take over - I love them! There’s nothing better than their happy flowers on thin stems wobbling in the wind, especially when reflecting the glow of the moon at night.
What a lovely tender piece Jack. Wishing you Love in your heart and a spring in your step …
Happy Solstice everyone! What a beautiful day to be alive.