A death in the garden

In last week’s post I quoted from Ecclesiastes about there being ‘a time to die’; and this week I’m looking at the latest death in the garden.  The apple trees are mostly in full flower – the cooking apple tree later than the cordons, which started flowering a couple of weeks ago – but the little eating apple tree, which has been declining gradually over the last few years, is now very definitely Dead.

Cooking apple tree - alive and in flower

Eating apple tree - quite dead

It’s not quite clear what the problem is (or was).  It and the cooker were planted by the previous owners of the garden, presumably at much the same time, but the little tree never really thrived and rarely fruited well.  Was it planted on the site of a previous apple tree (never a good idea)?  The bark has been shredded by woodpeckers, which would have hastened its demise, but the woodpeckers must have had a reason to do that (they haven’t wreaked the same destruction on the cooker or the plum tree); presumably they were finding some sort of insects in the bark, which might have been the root cause of the problem.  For the past couple of years the tree has really only been a place to hang the bird feeders, and even in death it might fulfil that function for a few more years before it rots away (or we lose patience and cut it down).  And since the RSPB is now advising that we shouldn’t feed birds in the summer, perhaps even that won’t be necessary all the time.

A good long time ago we visited Andrew and Bryony Lawson’s garden in Charlbury when it was open for the National Garden Scheme, and they had suffered the loss of an apple tree, in a prominent position in the garden, just before the opening day.  Their solution to this potential eyesore had been to paint the dead tree bright blue and make a focal point of it, and everyone said how unusual and wonderful it looked.  We’re considering doing something similar, although the state of the bark might make that impracticable.  And however wonderful a blue tree might look in a colourful flower bed, as a stand-alone feature in the middle of a lawn it might be a bit odd.  Decision still to be taken (and I suspect it will be put off indefinitely).

Possibly a death postponed is that of the big hellebore (is it argutifolius?  I can never remember) in the front garden.  It didn't flower this winter - and poorly the winter before that - and looked as though one of the nasty hellebore diseases had got it.  I cut off the leaves and disposed of them in the council green waste bin, but the other day I noticed a few new (healthy-looking, at least for the moment) leaves coming through.  We'll see.

Meanwhile the posh hellebore that dried out while we were away has been a poor-looking thing.  I repotted its shrivelled remains carefully and have been keeping them nicely watered – the weather has been very dry for a few weeks, with a cold drying wind much of the time – and I see that there is now the tiniest green shoot at the base of the stem.  So all may be well.

The pink pot

The wind knocked the tulips, now mostly faded, about a bit.  I’ve been pleased with them this year.  The ‘pink pot’ of ‘Margarita’, ‘Foxtrot’ and (dark purple) ‘Ronaldo’, with an exuberant underplanting of forget-me-nots, worked very well indeed; ‘Ronaldo’ was a little short, and later than the others (it is now the only variety in the pot still standing), but provided good contrast.  I really liked ‘Margarita’, a fine tall early tulip with a broad base and a strong pink colour - and scented to boot! - and smaller ‘Foxtrot’ was a good complement.  I had really wanted my old favourite ‘Angelique’, but none of the suppliers seemed to be stocking it any more.  I have one bulb of ‘Angelique’ planted out down at the bottom of the veg patch, where it is overrun by the lily-of-the-valley and goosegrass, and a couple planted last year in the patio bed, and am struck by the difference between them; the older bulb is a good strong pink-and-white, while the newer bulbs are very washed-out in colour.  I wonder if the strain has deteriorated over the years, and bulb merchants are now moving to other varieties?

The older 'Angelique'

The other big pot, down by the summerhouse, has Sarah Raven’s Ginger Snap collection, and is doing very well indeed, even despite the wind.  It’s a colour combination that I wouldn’t have put together myself, and although the darker tulips haven't been much in evidence (only one ‘Negrita Parrot’ came up - and the flowerhead snapped off very quickly! - and not too many ‘Queen of Night’), they serve to offset the mixed tawny orange and pinkish tones in the others (‘Cairo’, ‘Ridgedale’ and ‘Time Out’), not all of which I might have chosen individually.  As a mix, I would grow them again.

Ginger snap mix

Back on the patio, the pot of ‘Doll’s Minuet’ was less successful; the blooms didn’t last too long, and the underplanting with the pink felicia was too mimsy.

Now that the patio tulips are over, the main event there currently is the wisteria, which is in full flow, giving both colour and scent to the garden.

The wisteria

As mentioned above, the RSPB has modified its advice on bird feeding because of trichomonosis, the pigeon-borne disease that has decimated the finch population among others.  We used to have good numbers of chaffinches and greenfinches here, but in recent years they have been in decline.  I’ve been pleased to see a pair of each of them coming to the patio to drink, and have been more careful about changing the drinking water than in the past, in the hope of reducing the infection risk (there is no chance of keeping the pigeons away).  Apart from a few crumbs (which the sparrows and dunnocks clear up quickly), and the last few old cooking apples for the blackbirds, I’ve also reduced the food offerings; the other birds are around (the blackcap was singing at the bottom of the garden the other day) but not coming for food, which presumably they can find out in the fields and hedgerows around here.  Both the blackbirds and the great tits (the current residents in the nestbox) are feeding youngsters.