I am a great admirer of Dan Pearson’s garden writing and have an email subscription to his online magazine, Dig Delve. Dan unfailing comes up with beautiful words to describe the progress of his garden and Huw Morgan supplies the stunning photographs. Last week’s edition A New Year was no exception. The very first sentence caught my attention: ‘Winter is a time to look.’ And so I did.
One
The seed head of Echinacea purpurea
Two
Seed heads of Agastache ‘Black Adder’
Three
Seed heads of Rudbeckia fulgida ‘Goldsturm’
Four
The flower of Echinacea purpurea ‘White Swan’
Five
I also managed to do some gardening this week. It was the coldest day of the week and I had some digging to do. I had been smugly admiring the newly cleared plot on the north facing border. It looked lovely but I know that soil can be deceptive and underneath lurk the roots of the very worst of weeds. One end of the plot turned over quite nicely. I only needed to remove the odd blackcurrant root that had been left behind. I gave the dug over patch a mulch of leaf mould and as the toes were tingling I retreated inside for some warmth. The next day I set out to tackle the second half. A different experience unfolded. The weeds were lurking at this end of the plot and as I dug the roots out I remembered the enchanter’s nightshade that loves this corner and then the creeping cinquefoil came to mind. I really don’t like that one. A couple of trugs full of roots were removed and I know I still haven’t got the upper hand.
Six
The first rapid fluttering of a nearby robin’s wings always makes me jump out of my skin but we soon get used to each other and this robin seemed very happy to pose for the occasional photo. In return I turned over a few worms for him.
It’s been cold but beautifully dry here so I’m hoping to finish off my digging this weekend. I’ve then got roses to prune and some perennials to cut back. I’ll be leaving those seed heads standing until the new growth starts to come through. Wishing you all well with your garden jobs. To take a look at what has been occupying fellow SOSs this week stop by at Mr P’s blog and links.
I love Robins always uplifts me when I see one on a dull winters day. Had my packed lunch at the Royal Botanical Gardens in Edinburgh last week and saw one their it was singing it’s heart out.
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They do have a lovely song. Hope you had a good day out!
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You are lucky to have managed to take a picture of this Robin. Every day, I see one and every time my camera is far from me, in another room … too late!
Gorgeous pictures of seed heads, I love them!
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Thank you! Sometimes the phone camera does it’s job!!
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Your photos are wonderful! That dirst obe of the Echinacea is stunning! I LOVE that you leave the seed heads on the perennials, I think they look so unique in the Winter time! Just this morning, our resident Cardinal couple appeared outside and I wished I could get a closeup like you did of the Robin!
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I love it that others equally get caught out by unruly fingers!! The cardinals must be much shyer than our robins – they will sit so close to you when there is digging going on.
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OMG, I meant to type “the first photo” not “the dirst obe” LOL I blame my lack of tea yet this morning!
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Lovely idea for the seed heads . I am a big fan of dig delve too. Good luck with Enchanters Nightshade, it is a menace.
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Thank you for introducing me to Dan Pearson’s beautiful sight. Lovely read!
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I hurt myself on Thursday pulling up brambles! I was already sore from coughing from the nasty flu, and then went out to pull brambles of blackberry and roses. It was not particularly difficult, but apparently, it was strenuous enough to pull a muscle. I do not know the technical term for it, but it hurts now. Those thorny brambles are nasty, but are fortunately not as difficult to get rid of as other creeping weeds are. It was more pulling than digging and tilling.
How cool that you got good pictures of the remains of blooms. So many are in such a hurry to get rid of such carcasses. Some complain that there is not much going on in the garden this time of year.
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I hope you are on the mend now. I like the SOS for making me look at my garden in January. It is making me a better gardener!!
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I remember reading something about Dig Delve around its launch, thanks for the reminder. We have robins in the garden but I rarely dig, so that don’t hang around for food. I rarely see them at the allotment site, presumably they don’t have territories up there.
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Nice to see the seed heads. And the robin. Will check out Dig Delve as I like Dan Pearson’s work.
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Those seed heads are very striking. It’s been a while since we had a tame robin. It”s nice when they accept you as part of the garden.
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They stay so close here and with the shutter sound turned off on the phone I could have taken more!
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Beautiful seedhead photos. I can never manage to photograph the birds in the garden, your robin is beautiful.
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I used to have a resident robin but have seen very little of him recently….. maybe our resident cat has scared him off. I cut back my rudbeckia last week, I didn’t realise how much it had spread. Good value and plenty of colour for a long time late summer/ early autumn.
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I agree rudbeckia is great value. I have plans to divide mine this year, I need to spread that late colour around the garden.
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Dan Pearson swoon swoon. I can remember seeing him on TV in the early 1980s I think, could be earlier, doing gardening stuff in London. Little did we know then what a hero he would become.
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Yes, ‘winter is a time to look’ and I’ve been impressed by the wonderful winter photographs of winter laid bare
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I must be less tidy next winter. I’m always impatient to cut things back but all those seedheads of yours are giving me pause.
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