Getting to the core of the matter...

It’s apple time again.

And the old Grenadier Apple tree in the kitchen garden is loaded with fruit. This tree was one of the two original plantings (the other being the pink camellia) that we kept when we cleared the garden.
We never do much to the tree apart from the odd prune and it has enormous crops year after year. Friends have been known to come from as far away as Orkney with an empty suitcase to collect “a few”....


I didn’t know what variety of apple this was for some time until someone that knew their apples enlightened me . Until then I had been describing it variously as a cooking apple or a Bramley type apple.
It’s an early ripening cooking apple, the first have been ready for a couple of weeks. It doesn’t keep beyond a few weeks in a cold place. But it makes the most wonderful pies and purees. It’s also great for jellies and jams. We‘ve never tried making cider with Grenadier maybe this is the year to give it a go.

When I did some research I discovered that not much is known about the origins of the Grenadier apple but it appeared sometime in the mid 19th century and was quite widely grown for a while. Apart from it’s poor keeping qualities (not much use in the days of supermarkets and the desired long shelf life) it’s partial demise was put down to it’s appearance. It has been described in various texts as “lumpen” and  “ribbed” and “ugly”. I think this does the apple a great disservice as it is grown for its taste rather than it’s looks.
Grenadier is also quite an easy apple tree to grow in the garden, being reliable, resistant to the common apple diseases, and not too vigerous.  We find that the apples ripen over a number of weeks which tends to overcome it’s poor cooking qualities.The tree is fairly compact making it ideal for all but the smallest garden.

Being a soft cooking apple and having recently hard landscaped the area under the apple tree with box hedges and slate, we found that many of the apple hit the ground if not with a “splat” at least with a bounce that bruises them and in some instances breaks them open. Then they are left for the wildlife or end up in the compost heap.

 So to prevent this we came up with a cunning plan....a net suspended under the tree to catch the apples as they fall. We got the idea from the nets used to catch the olive crop in the Mediterranean.

It was a bit of a hassle suspending the net all the way round the tree (where would we be without plastic ties?) but with a bit of pulling and stretching we managed well enough.

When the apples start to ripen they need to be checked almost daily. The apple is ripe if it comes away in your hand when cupped gently and and twisted.

We’re having friends to stay so apple crumble is on the menu.

The Hanging Gardens of Montrose

This is Montrose on the east coast of Scotland. As you can see it has an enviable position between the sea and the tidal Montrose Basin. This view was taken from the House of Dun (a NTS mansion) looking back towards the town. The water in the foreground is the Basin, famous for it’s birdlife. The town occupies the narrow spit of land between the water and the sea.

It has some fine old buildings with walls of red sandstone. Many date back to the time when Montrose was a thriving port and wealthy merchants built elegant town houses for themselves.
There are numerous fine churches and the Academy, the local secondary school has a gold saucer catching the light.

Many Montrosians hurry by about their business and are oblivious to the more hidden side of the town. There’s nothing sinister about, it's just not noticed. Look up at the warm red sandstone walls to see a fountain a greenery hanging  from the walls and rooftops.

Closes (passageways)  connect many of the main streets. The old walls providing a niche for ferns, buddleia and toadflax to flourish.

Grasses sprout from Chimneys and ivy covers walls with a green tapestry. Rosebay willow herbs grows precriously above the front of a pillared church. Herb Robert nestles in a crack in the wall spreading its seeds around to start the cycle again.

 More buddleia grows along the top of the close wall and centranthus ruber  "Red Valarian" and toadflax fills many of the cracks. A soft green carpet of moss edges the path.

Shrubs and clematis spill over a high wall adding a dash of colour as it twines around the road sign. Purple loosestrife grows in a rhone (gutter) buffeted by the wind.

 

White or yellow stonecrop cling to gaps in  the roof slates and moss covers old industrial

   roofing.

The green canopies and assorted flowers soften the edges of the red stone buildings and  the walls.

Some may view this as a sign of neglect but it also shows nature asserting herself and plants growing in the most inhospitable places.

 Weeds are nature's graffiti.  ~Janice Maeditere

Plant of the moment

We came across this plant at a garden centre on our travels and given my penchant for spiky additions to the garden decided to buy it. It looked intriguing.
Usually I like to have at least recognized the name of the plant or seen it growing locally but this one was a complete unknown. The information in this case was minimal. Nothing other than the name on the plant pot.

It's called  Berkheya purpurea.

 

Some research when we got home told me it was native to South Africa. One of the cultivar's of this plant is called "Zulu Warrior", which would have been a clue to it's origins. I presume therefore it is probably tender in this country and won't grow in quite the same way as in it's native environment. That  means adding another plant to the list for winter mulching and a spot of TLC.

The daisy flowers are an attractive pale pink through to mauve that fades over time.

The centre of the flower looks like a fruit pastille.

What is extraordinary about this plant is it's spikiness. The stems grow from a central rosette of spiky leaves. The spikes then continue up the stems

Along the leaves,

Up the smaller stems.

And over the flower buds as well.

These are viscious spikes. I'm sure that it will be left well alone in it's native South Africa. It makes the eryngium look a bit of a shrinking violet...

Whether berkheya purpurea survives here remains to be seen.

Just as a footnote to this post.
I wish the labelling on plants gave more information. There was only a name in the form of a sticky label on the pot and I have yet to find staff in Garden Centres (as opposed to Nurseries) with much knowledge about the plants in their care.
I also think some of the plants on offer  are too tender for this part of the world. Better labeling might help impetuous shoppers like me to think twice!
It's my only quibble with this is particular  Garden Centre, which has interesting well cared for plants (and a great coffee shop)

Hoverfly on Wordless Wednesday

Elaine Bullard: A Remarkable Woman

I had a post prepared for today about a new plant in the garden. But I have put that on hold when I came across the obituary of an amazing botanist and plantswoman Elaine Bullard who had died aged 96 years. She lived much of her life in Orkney studying the native flora.

She published a book with Alan Bremner (Orkney farmer and breeder of hardy geraniums) of trees and shrubs that had been grown over the years in Orkney. It was not a list of recommendations but of plants that had been tried at some point with varying degrees of success. Plants that thrive in Orkney tend to be a select bunch and these have been carefully recorded, although naming has sometimes proved problematic. Elaine always said that advice "from sooth" should always be tempered with caution. It was one of the most useful books for a gardener starting out in Orkney (ie me) and gave an idea what might grow and what would not.

In the late 90s Elaine enjoyed a trip to New Zealand to look at the flora there. There are many New Zealand plants that are suited to the Orkney climate. The story I was told was that she came back from her travels with her muddy boots in a bag. Such was the wealth of seed material on the boots that she planted them. And being Elaine they probably grew!

For many years Elaine was a leading light in the Orkney Field Club and also wrote articles for "The Orcadian"newspaper. These were known as "Planticru Notes". As you will have noticed this is also the name of my blog.

This post is dedicated to Elaine Bullard and her work on Orkney flora and in particular Primula Scotica.

Steptoes Yard

If you are ever up this way, head to St Cyrus Nature Reserve just north of Montrose and keep an eye out for the signs for Steptoes Yard. It is (according to your point of view) a junk Yard or a Treasure Trove. I lean towards the latter. 

We have bought many a fine garden tool there and there are a lot. Take a look at these... all they need is a bit of a clean-up and they will be in good working order (I am told) The metal conservator in the family remained very doubtful....

There is a fine selection of old spades with slightly worn handles. These remind me of the one belonging to Phyllis that got broken.

My preference when it comes to pots is always clay over plastic every time. Apart from being more environmentally friendly, I find clay pots better especially for cuttings.

There are piles of rusty objects inviting a photograph or two....

Another Steptoe purchase is the beautiful Creel basket and now a home for herbs.

On this last visit we were looking for some metal parts to make a kinetic sculpture (P's a dab hand at things like that) and I spied an old bedstead, leaning forlornly against a wall forgotten about with weeds twining through it. As you can see from the detailing it's really quite beautiful and would look great in the garden!
And you all thought I was going to clean it up and use it as a bed? Dream on!

 The detailing is rather fine and has an interesting rusty quality.

We had a bit of a chat wth "Mr Steptoe" and a bit of bargaining (almost de rigeur here) and the deal was done. He offered  to deliver said bedsteads next time they were passing.
Now we have to decide where to put it. I had envisaged a plant weaving it's way in and out of the metal uprights  without taking over completely or some structure being given to some plant with a floppy tendency...

In the meantime the bedsteads are leaning against our side wall waiting for the ground to dry out.

At Last.......

I read somewhere recently that moths and butterflies are a measure of the health of the environment. 

Now I know it's been an odd kind of "summer" with very little sun and generally lacking in warmth but I was wondering if we would ever see any butterflies in the garden or on our walks.

In the past two years the numbers of butterflies have been quite low and later than usual. This year the buddleia is more than halfway through flowering and the butterflies have only appeared in any numbers in the past couple of days.

Much of the butterfly decline seems to be related to loss of habitat especially out in the countryside and what is known as habitat fragmentation. Habitats only surviving in small pockets so it is hard for the butterflies to travel any distance.

Perhaps the butterflies have all stayed south in England or on the Continent where it's warmer. That could be one explanation.... Whatever the reason please help by planting flowers for wildlife.

This is our butterfly sightings so far.

A white on Rosebay Willow Herb. I think it's probably a large Cabbage White but don't quote me!

 Peacock

 Fritillary

Burnett Moth

 Tortoiseshell

Meadow Brown

Meadow Brown

Small Heath

Common Blue

Red Admiral

"The caterpillar does all the work and the butterfly gets all the publicity" attributed to George Carlin

Garden Bloggers Bloom Day

Here's a quick roundup of what's in bloom in our garden. In spite of being flattened by heavy rain there is still plenty of colour and interest in the garden.

Some plants have been flowering for some weeks and are still going strong such as Crocosmia "Lucifer" and the Rhodohypoxis.

One of our new plants is Penstemon "Sour Grapes".  it is one of the best known penstemons.

There are many that are similar and it is sometimes wrongly named. It has a delicate flower and pale colour ranging from blue to pink.

 

We still have our fair share of thistle type plants flowering late in the season In this photo eryngium yuccifolium has a wonderful architectural flower spike.

The cone flowers ecchinacea (both white and pink) have come into their own this past couple of weeks. Looking at other blogs we seem to have been waiting a long time...

We've also been waiting a long time for the appearance of these wee chaps. A bit of warmth and sunlight is all we need and of course, the buddleia and the verbena bonariensis in flower for the small tortoiseshells to appear.

The agapanthus last for some weeks in our garden. The plants in pots (after being brought on in the greenhouse) usually come out some time before the ones in the ground. We have a several different blues and a white.

The thalictrum is at its best at the moment. A froth of tiny, starry, lavender flowers which are worth a close-up look.

 

Also on show in the flower garden is a new clematis that we bought recently. It doesn't climb or twine but has a tendency to sprawl or scramble over other plants and supports. That may not sound a very attractive description but it has small purple flowers and beautiful seed heads. It has a lovely name Clematis "Petit Faucon" which means "small falcon"

One of my favourite flowers in the garden nearly got lost under the opium poppies browning foliage. I believe it needs sun and a bit of space to get to more then two feet in height and to form a clump.  Gaura is a small graceful plant with delicate, airy flowers in whites and pinks.

So that's the best of what's left in the flower garden. be sure to tune in to what is in bloom in other bloggers gardens at Carol's Blogger Bloom Day.