Thursday 30th March 2023 - Blusher Brush, Angel Wings and Oliver, Ronnie & Reggie

Despite not doing much in particular, this week is going by quickly. We have been in the garden, which is now pretty well up to date, if a garden ever can be. The blossom on both the peach and apricot trees have opened, with the greengage just starting. As it is still too cold for many pollinating insects to be about, I have been out with an old blusher brush (I always say, there is more than one use for pretty well everything) dusting all the flowers I can reach to help fruit to set. It has worked in previous years, only for the developing fruit to drop off! Still, I can but try.

I am in a bit of a quandary over an angel wings plant. It’s on the patio, after overwintering in the greenhouse, and needs its lower leaves removing to tidy it up. It will then look top heavy so I took a look on YouTube to see what others have done in the same situation. Unusual for YouTube, there was little advice but one video suggested cutting off the leafy tops, using these as cuttings, and the bare stems should then shoot with more leaves. It all sounds a bit drastic – I don’t want to lose the plant completely. I think I will put a photo and a question on the Creative Gardening Facebook page and see what advice I get from members. If any readers of my blog have any sound suggestions, then do please send me a message via the Contact Page.

We haven’t seen the gull we named Oliver, for a couple of weeks. Oliver is normally waiting for us at the top of the zigzag path. When we last saw Oliver, summer plumage was in evidence so along with other gulls Oliver is most likely building a nest and if Oliver is in fact Olivia, laying eggs. There are still two regulars who come to the car park and aptly named, Ronnie & Reggie (the Craig twins, oops this should read the Kray twins!). They are a right pair of thugs, dominating other gulls and have been seen to attack juveniles who are trying to pick up some of the food I put down.

That’s it for today and for the month of March too. I’ll leave you with a photo of our forsythia, currently a blaze of bright yellow flowers. Forsythia flowers always bring back memories of my Nana (grandmother) who cut sprays and picked daffodils, from the garden on my grandparent’s farm, to have indoors.