A meadow
It’s almost the end of May and it’s been hot! The bluet tits have fledged after regular use of our water fountain and feeders, and the crows have been feeding their young. I’ve been giving them food as they ask (suet pellets, sunflower seeds and tofu, all soaked in water) but not leaving it out.
We’ve had a succession of flowers: lily of the valley, primroses, cowslips, bluebells, aquilegia, and more recently meadow buttercup, oxeye daisy, cornflower, melancholy thistle, bellflower, queen annes lace, iris, hawkbit, vetch and clover. The terrace now truly feels like a garden, or rather a meadow. The photos above and below shows it from different perspectives, and some of the details. Here are some notes and observations from the year thus far:
The wooden trolleys that we’ve placed under the heavier pots have been a godsend, allowing me to easily move plants as needed. We’re ordering more.
I got it into my head that native plants would like topsoil rather than compost. That turned out to be wrong. I’m now being a lot more careful in finding the right compost, pots and drainage for different plants. It means that I have a lot of re-potting to do.
I’ve particularly enjoyed the pots of mixed meadow planting, created from a combination of plugs and seeds (see final photo).
We had our first butterfly visitor - a painted lady - and many bees, especially on the melancholy thistle. I’ve also seen moths for the first time.
We bought a rowan tree to add to the woodland area. That prompted us to decide to move plants into three habitat types: woodland, meadow and coastal. More to come on that.
Melancholy thistle (Cirsium heterophyllum) is the plant most popular with the bees. In front is oxeye daisy.
