Family

Nasturtium are members of the Tropaeolaceae.  Members are succulent with alternate leaves and flowers borne singly on stems.  They’re climbing vines, originating in South America.  Other species seen in gardens include the clambering Flame nasturtium Tropaeolum speciosum, and the yellow flowered Canary creeper Tropaeolum peregrinum.  Both have lobed leaves, unlike T. majus.

Nasturtium flowers

Flowers are zygomorphic (bilaterally symmetrical) and have five petals.  They are between 2.5 and 6 cm across.  The upper two petals are similar, and differ in shape and size from the lower three.  These have distinctive fringes in the mouth of the corolla, possibly relating to pollinating and nectar guides.  They tend to be orange and yellow, although some are red or a dark crimson.

There is an immediately recognizable spur at the back of the flower which is where the nectar is stored.

Pollen is produced by 8 stamens.  There is one style with three stigma, and a three-celled ovary.

The calyx is made of five sepals which vary in size and shape like the petals.

Nasturtium seeds

Seeds are a three-celled schizocarp (for more on seed anatomy take a look at my blog).  These break into three succulent segments, each of which contains a seed.

Nasturtium seeds are really large, and germinate readily.  This makes them ideal for planting with young kids.

Leaves of the nasturtium

Instantly recognizable, nasturtium leaves are alternate, and round with a centrally attached stalk and radiating veins.  They are thin with smooth margins, and are waterproof, shining a beautiful silver when submerged in water.

Pollination

In their native South America, nasturtium are pollinated by hummingbirds as well as by insects.  This may explain the red (as well as yellow and orange) flowers, which are easier for birds to find than insects (for more on this fascinating topic, check out Miguel Rodriguez-Girones’ article in PLoS.

Here in the UK they’re pollinated by long-tongued bees such as the Common carder Bombus pascuorum and the Garden bumblebee Bombus hortensus.

Garden Bumblebee Bombus hortorum

Etymology

The Latin name was coined by Linneaus, amazing taxonomist and naturalist, when he introduced the plant to European gardens in the 18^th century.

He thought the helmet-shaped flowers and flat, shield-like leaves resembled trophies from Roman times. These were known as “Tropoeum”.  After a victory, legionaries would put these shields and helmets on poles for all to see.

The English name, nasturtium, derives from the Latin “nasus tortus” or “nose twister”.  The peppery flavour of the plant explains this.  It’s no coincidence that the Latin name for the equally fiery watercress is Nasturtium officinale.

The unrelated Watercress Nasturtium officinale

Other European countries, such as Spain, Italy, Germany and France, have common names based on “cappuccio”, the Latin for hood.  These relate to the flower shape.

Edibility

All parts of the plant are edible, with a fiery mustardy flavour.

In her book The Garden Forager (which I was lucky enough to illustrate), Adele Nozedar suggests adding the flowers to salads.  Or stuffing them with cream cheese and mint.  Or even with vanilla ice cream!  She also includes a recipe for Nasturtium-leaf soup from President Eisenhower, and tells how to pickle the seeds in white-wine vinegar.

Medicinal nasturtiums?

All of the nasturtium is rich in vitamin C, so the plant was used to prevent scurvy.  It was also used to prevent hair loss, as a paste of the fiery follicles was thought to stimulate the hair follicles.

Pests

Despite being easy to grow and hardy up ’til the first frost, nasturtium are beset with pests.

Aphid congregate at the apex of stalk and leaf.

Aphid (with rose leaves)

Cabbage white butterfly caterpillars (also known as Large white Pieris brassicae) devour the leaves, leading some gardeners to suggest planting nasturtium as a “trap crop” to deter pests from vegetables like kale and cabbage (Horticulture magazine) , while others argue that companion planting may actually attract more pests (The Spruce).

Compost bin with nasturtium growing in and over it

Conclusion

It’s common to have favourite plants and flowers, and no surprise that the nasturtium is one of mine.  With its’ grow-ability, draw-abilty, and edibility…what’s not to love?

https://youtu.be/XGeSNvRmhBM

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Some months ago I worked on a diagram of an idealised garden which grew flowers, fruit, herbs, and vegetables all year round.  The most unusual thing about this job is that the garden was on the island of Montserrat, in the Caribbean.

As I drew up my pencil rough, including all the species listed as growing on this plot of land, I wondered how on earth anyone could ever be expected to have such a wide variety of plants in one garden.  Little did I know then, I was soon to see the garden in real life.

Annotated pencil rough of the Montserrat Garden plan

Elvis Gerald’s Garden

One of the many highlights of my recent work trip to Montserrat (take a look at my blog Montserrat – Working in Paradise for more) was visiting Elvis’s garden.

Elvis Gerald is a remarkable and extremely knowledgeable man.  Working in Montserrat’s Department of Agriculture, for RSPB, liaising with Montserrat National Trust and responsible for ensuring imported fruit and vegetables don’t carry harmful invasive species; he is also a very busy man.  Which is why it was all the more wonderful to meet him at his home and get a tour of his amazing garden plot.

Elvis Gerald’s garden with entomologist Wolfgang, Catherine Wensink, Jodey Peyton, and Rebecca Machin

Caribbean garden: Temperate orchard

The very first thing I clocked about Elvis’s garden was that it’s on a slope.  I had not even considered this when I was drawing it, and was wondering about the layout.  It made the whole enterprise even more remarkable.  The first area we saw was on a gentle gradient.  The same is not true of areas round the back of the house.

Apple and pear trees aren’t commonly grown in the Caribbean.  They are temperate fruit.  So imagine our surprise to see several varieties of apple, pear and even nectarines thriving.  Elvis shields the tree trunks from scalding by the sun with white paint, and mulches the base of the trees with shredded paper.

Mulching around apple trees with shredded paper

The fruits are protected from pests by being individually bagged, and tinsel and tin foil festoon the trees to dissuade hungry birds.

Pears protected in bags

Between the trees, Elvis grows peppers and chillis.  Pots of herbs and squash plants are dotted around.

Pepper growing in the orchard area.

Grass is allowed to grow to protect the soil, and carefully placed irrigation pipes provide water during drought.  In my diagram I put these in a corner, in reality irrigation tubes stretch the width of the plot.

Diagram of the garden in progress.  Irrigation systems in the bottom right.

Guava, Banana and Papaya

I was thrilled to see a Guava tree growing, complete with blossom.  Although I was pretty happy with the illustration of the guava fruit I did for one of my Montserratian medicinal fruits, I’d been anxious about the blossom.  The flower was not perfect, somewhat lacking in stamens, but it was close enough to earn a small sigh of relief.

Guava Psidium guajava photo and my illustration of blossom

Other tropical fruit trees grew alongside.  There were bananas and plantains.

Elvis’s banana palms, and my diagrammatic ones.

Lots of Papaya grew, with fruits still green.  The lobed leaves, and the way they grow out from the trunk is instantly recognizable.  These trees grow throughout the garden, often on very steep areas.  Some grew alongside pomegranates.

Papaya tree alongside my diagram

As suggested in my species list, there were also Dragon fruit, Figs, Mulberry, and Barbados cherry.

Native species growing in amongst include the Rainfall bush, Gumbo limbo, Noni, Broadleaf and Bay leaf.  The Bay was fascinating.  It’s far larger than our European Bay and has shiny, leathery leaves.  Although the smell is similar, it’s more nuanced.  Elvis uses the leaves for tea and to flavour porridge.

There is also a hedge of Pribby, an endemic species used for hedging.  I hope to do a brief blog on Pribby soon.

West Indian Bay leaf Pimenta racemosa

Cabbages

I love a beautiful cabbage as much as the next person, and have delighted in illustrating them in the past.

Savoy cabbage completed for Rodale Publishing’s “Vegetable Garden Problem Solver”

However, I was not expecting to see some of the most perfect cabbages I’ve ever encountered growing on a steep hill in Montserrat.  Elvis says slugs and snails are not a problem, so the cabbages thrive.  As do the lettuces, salad leaves, seedlings, and other low-lying plants.

Cabbage growing and diagrammatic cabbages

As with the diagram, amongst the cabbage beds, Elvis grows peppers and other plants.  This shields the earth from the hot drying sun, a concept my illustration has failed to capture.

Companion planting is part of Elvis’s armoury.  There are French marigolds and plenty of Tridax daisy Tridax procumbens.  This pretty little plant provides ground cover and is important for pollinators.

Pests

I was grateful that there was netting underfoot in amongst the sweet potatoes, squash and cabbages.  I assumed it was there to stop Elvis from sliding down the hillside as he gardened.  The slope below the house is quite extreme.

No.  It’s there to deter iguana.  These lizards grow to massive sizes, and are the bane of many gardeners on Montserrat.  Tinsel scares off the birds.  Netting shields vegetables from iguana.  Companion planting encourages natural predators of insect pests.  And these are only the pest deterrents I noticed!  I have no doubt that many more are also at play.

Herbs and Spices

Tucked amongst the trees and vegetables are lots of pots of herbs.  Chocolate mint, Cinnamon and Lemon basil, Coriander and Rosemary, thyme and tarragon.

Elvis also grows ginger and turmeric.  I’d not seen turmeric growing before, and was surprised to see how close to the surface the root is.  It reminded me of an iris.

Pots of herbs, Turmeric; and my diagram of coriander, thyme, and ginger growing in pots

Earlier in the day, Elvis has harvested some cucumbers, so we got him to pose outside his back door with one.

Elvis Gerald with home grown cucumber

Dry Garden

It came as something of a surprise when Elvis pointed out that he had a second garden too, further down the hill.  Luckily for us, he was willing to show us around there too.

This garden was flatter, and much drier.  It was rich in fig trees, avocado, and limes.  Montserrat used to be known for its’ lime juice, until scale insects wiped out many of the citrus orchards.  It was sad to see some evidence of these insects on Elvis’s trees, too, although the fruit looked healthy.

Lime

There were lots of sweet potatoes growing.  I was relieved that the unlikely purple trumpet-shaped flowers I’d found in research were indeed the right flowers for a Sweet potato plant.

Sweet potato flowers alongside diagram of the plants growing

Conclusion

We left Elvis’s gardens in awe.  That someone holding down several jobs and no small level of responsibility could also maintain two beautiful and productive gardens was almost alarming.  So much produce, year round.  Unencumbered by long European winters, and only fettered by droughts and animal pests, Elvis has created the sort of garden anyone would be jealous of.

It is also the only time in my life that I have seen reality being more organised and perfect than my idealised diagrams.  Elvis Gerald, I salute you.

Catherine Wensink (UKOTCF), Elvis Gerald, and ecologist Jodey Peyton

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The Illustration this blog is based on depicts a “bad garden” in Sweden, where FOR (the commissioning client) are based.

Hard surfaces

Bad gardens are full of hard surfaces.  These can take the form of wooden decking, or lots of paving.

Wooden decking

Hard surfaces are detrimental in various ways.  In hot climates, paving absorbs heat, and really speeds up the drying out of surrounding soils and turf.  An area of soil covered with decking or paving slabs isn’t able to sustain any plants, nor the pollinators and other animals that rely on them.

There’s also the issue of flooding.  Rainwater, which with climate change is increasingly unpredictable and can be torrential, simply runs off paved or decked gardens.  This leads to soil erosion, and on a wider scale, contributes to flooding.

It’s also important to note that hard surfaces are pretty ubiquitous on a wider scale than just in our own gardens.  Local government often opt for concrete or paved areas as they’re a little easier to care for.  If possible, councils and those in charge on public spaces should be encouraged to take a more environmentally sound approach.

Paving

There’s also plenty of evidence that having a garden full of plants rather than timber and concrete, creates a healthier environment.  Plants absorb pollutants, and produce oxygen. And, of course, they often look a great deal prettier than an area of hard standing.  Hazel Dawe of the Oxfordshire Green Party discusses this in her letter to the Oxford Mail, concluding with, “This affliction can be avoided through a combination of action by property owners and perceptive support from local authorities and community groups to encourage planting.”  I couldn’t agree more.

Lack of trees and shrubs

A bad garden will be devoid of trees and shrubs.  Trees are important for a whole glut of wildlife.  Insects feed on their leaves, and hide in the cracks and crannies of their bark.  Birds use them for protection and nest sites, roost in them, and eat the insects feeding on tree foliage.

Long tailed tits Aegithalos caudatus

Mammals may hibernate in amongst the leaf litter that accumulates at the base of their trunks.

There’s also the wider issue of offsetting carbon dioxide.  Trees (like all plants) absorb carbon dioxide and produce oxygen.  Then help lock away the Co2 that’s contributing to the climate emergency.

Garden without trees

Then there’s an argument for planting trees which doesn’t have any message attached.  Trees are beautiful!  They also provide shade in a garden, and many have gorgeous foliage, especially in autumn.  For more on why to plant trees and shrubs, check out the Woodland Trust’s site.

Acer autumn leaf

Fencing

Fencing encloses your space effectively.  However, it provides nothing for wildlife or wild flowers.  The other alternative, hedges, provide walls of protection, nutrients, and nesting spaces for wildlife.  You can also choose any number of lovely hedging plants which give gorgeous flowers, scents, and leaf colour year round.

Fencing

Species such as Holly, Beech, Hazel, Hawthorn, Holm oak and Yew are popular for hedging in the UK.  You could also choose a conifer hedge.  Although better than a fence, Leylandii and Cypress hedging isn’t nearly as welcoming to wildlife as deciduous species.  It does still filter out air pollution (Leylandii is the best of all UK hedging plants at this) but it’s a greedy plant, taking nutrients from the soil and not replacing them.  Its’ evergreen leaves don’t fall and rot back into the earth.  For more on the famous Leyalndii check out the Guardian newspaper’s article.

In Sweden, where the client who commissioned this “bad garden” illustration is based, common hedge plants include Chokeberry, Potentilla, and Lilac.

Swedish lilac hedge

Water use

Bad gardens will use hose pipes for all their watering needs, often leaving sprinklers going far longer than is required, and wasting good drinking water even at times of drought.  Rainwater is also better for plant health than piped water from the mains.  Fitting and using water butts and watering cans is a better (if slightly harder) option.

Areas of water like ponds or even bird baths can prove really important for visiting wildlife.  Consider adding a pond to your garden.

Close mowing

A beautiful bowling-green lawn may look lovely.  But it’s a desert for wildlife.  No hiding places, no nectar-rich wildflowers, no moisture stores, no nutritious grass seeds to eat.  In the UK there’s a big push to encourage people to mow their lawns less, called “No-mow May” and it’s got tangible positive effects for butterflies and other insects.

Mown grass

If you must mow often, maybe limit the area you crop so closely, and leave some areas of longer grass for the wildlife.

A good idea is to leave the grass cutting in situ on the lawn, to rot down and add nutrients back into the soil.  You can also do this with fallen leaves, once dry.  Just mow them and leave them to rot down over winter.

Mulching leaves by mowing them into the lawn

Some people like the idea of a lawn, but feel that the upkeep of grass is too much trouble, or that patches of mud resulting from vigorous children’s play are unsightly.  They may choose to use plastic artificial lawns instead.  I’m not even going to pretend not to be judgemental here.  This is not only an appalling choice for wildlife, plant health, your plastic waste and eco-footprint; but it’s also darned ugly.  Please, please, if at all possible, avoid making this choice.  For an overview of why artificial lawns are so bad, check out this article from the University of Plymouth.

Pesticide and Herbicide use

In a non-eco friendly garden, you’ll find liberal use of pesticides and herbicides.  These kill many species as well as the target pest, and can accumulate in the food-chain.  Many of the plant species targeted by herbicides, such as the dandelion, are incredible sources of nectar and pollen for visiting insects.

Jersey Post Beetles Presentation Pack with Ladybird, House longhorn Hylotrupes bajulus and wasp beetle

There are other ways of discouraging pest plant and animal species.  Research companion planting, and biological control of pest species.  The latter include introducing nematode worms to deal with slugs, and ladybirds to control aphids.

Exposed Soil

Big patches of exposed soil aren’t a great idea, in general gardens are much healthier if there’s green cover over the substrate.  This means the soil is always being re-energized with rotting down matter.  Winter is a key time, when many vegetable plots will sit empty, soil exposed to the world.  As the Guardian says, “Your soil cannot lie bare over the winter months. The wind, rain and cold will damage the precious top layer; it will lose nutrients and structure, and start to erode.”

Bare feet on the soil with garden flowers behind, including marigold and forget me nots

Even in summer, make sure flower beds are allowed to grow weeds if it’s not planted with other things.  After all, a weed is just a plant growing in the wrong place!

Flower beds with lots of exposed soil

While we’re talking about bare soil, it should be pointed out that some soil covers, such as wood chip, are fine for wildlife.  But others, like broken slate or some gravel cover, can be yet another way to add to the hard surfaces in your garden.  Saying that, gravel gardens, if planted carefully, can be great for wildlife, especially in Mediterranean or drought-prone areas. For more on this, look at the Wildlife Trusts article.

Iris reticulata growing in gravel

And what to do with the weeds when you DO want to remove them?  Pull them up!  The latest thinking is to just let them stay on the soil, acting as mulch.

Plant choice

I realise this is a little contentious as people know very well what they do and don’t wish to grow in their gardens.  It goes without saying that some plants is better than having no plants.  Even if your garden is very small, consider container gardening.

Hostas funkia in a pot

However, if you’re avoiding a bad garden, there are some suggestions.  Generally, planting perennials is a better option than planting annuals.

Non-native annuals in pots

This is partly because the remnants of perennials can be allowed to sit over winter, helping nature and the soil.  It’s also because perennials are far less work for the gardener!  For more on this look at the Sunday Gardener’s blog.

When choosing what species to plant, try to go for flowers which are known to encourage wildlife.  Increasingly, these will be marked with a little motif of a bee or similar.

Many of our popular garden plants do nothing for wildlife.  Many roses, chrysanthemums, tulips, annuals, and bedding plants offer nothing to pollinators.  Some are even dangerous, either because they’ve been drenched in pesticides during their intensive growing phase, or because some plants can poison bees.  These include Rhododendron, Mountain Laurel, and Carolina jessamine.  For a fuller list, click here.

Rhododendron ponticum, very beautiful, but known to be poisonous to bees

A brilliant list of pollinator-friendly flowers to use for inspiration comes from the lab of one of my heroes, Dave Goulson.

You might also want to put native wildflowers in your garden.  This will bring in a wider range of insects as they will have co-evolved with these plants.  Some beauties include the Foxglove, Knapweed, Primrose, Yarrow, Snakes-head fritillary, Bugle, Honeysuckle, and Forget-me-not.  For more, click here.  Many appear early in the year.

Snakeshead fritillary Fritillaria meleagris

Conclusion

Hopefully this blog will have given a few pointers on things to avoid if you want to garden in a way which is environmentally sound, and good for nature.  For far more on this topic, and how to work towards a really good garden, please look at my blog on  “good” garden .

The post The Bad Garden appeared first on Lizzie Harper.

The twist on this commission is that this good garden needs to be cited in Sweden, which means a whole lot of research into Swedish hedging species, houses, garden plants, and native species of bird and butterfly.  However, many of the over arching themes and hints on how you can improve the health of your garden, and encourage wild animals and plants, are universal.

Hedges and Edges

Gardens which are welcoming to wildlife and encourage nature tend to have hedges rather than fencing.  There should be plenty of undergrowth to hide in, and hedging species should be native, or designed to appeal to pollinators.  In the main illustration of the Swedish garden, Maple and Hazel make up the majority of the hedging (although from a distance it’s hard to tell what the species is!)

Hedging – Lilac is often used for hedging in Sweden

Trees and Shrubs

Old established trees and numerous shrubs and bushes are good practice in a wildlife garden.  Rather than felling an ancient tree, make a feature of it.  This illustration has a central apple tree, with an area of young Birch saplings on the right.  Fruit trees are excellent in wildlife gardens as they provide blossom in the spring, and fruit in the autumn.  These benefit both the gardener, and the insects, mammals, and birds you’re looking to attract.  If you’re lucky, there will be other mature trees nearby.  These will link to the canopy of trees in your garden, making it easy for birds and insects to access your space.

Apple tree Malus domestica

Shrubs illustrated include more Hazel, and Buddleja.  Earlier in the year, Lilac provides nectar and pollen for bees, and looks lovely.  Not necessarily seen as a shrub, bushes of lavender can be beneficial for pollinators too.

Butterfly bush Buddleja davidii

If and when your established trees shed their branches, try to avoid clearing it all up.  Fallen wood encourages a whole different community of insects and animals, and leaving it on the ground allows the nutrients to seep back into the soil.

Apple tree with fallen branch left in situ

Woodpiles

You can introduce extra rotting wood into your garden by having a wood pile.  Allow this to rot a little, don’t be too keen to keep it neat and tidy.  Ivy, brambles, nettles and long grass growing around it provide perfect cover for animals seeking sanctuary, or somewhere to hibernate over winter.

Logpile with Hedgehog Erinaceus europaeus

Log piles are really good for fungus too.  The image above shows bracket fungus growing on the wood, along with more conventional “mushroom-like” fungi.  Look out for King Alfred’s cakes Daldinia concentrica growing on fallen Ash.  It looks like black balls, or burnt biscuits.  Turkey tail, with its striations, also turns up in woodpiles.  Fungi interact in the soil with other plants, and help recycle nutrients and encourage good soil health.  They break down wood, returning carbon, nitrogen and other vital minerals to the soil.

Turkey tail fungus Trametes versicolor

The woodpile in this good garden has a Coal tit perched on top, probably looking for small insects and caterpillars to eat.

Woodpile

Minimize Hard Surfaces

Straightforward enough advice.  Hard surfaces such as decking, gravel beds, and patios not only stop plants from growing on those spaces.  They also add to run-off from rain water, and stop the land from working as it should, like a sponge for rainfall.  Instead, water pours straight off and can clog drains and lead to flooding.  More on this in this article by the British Association of Landscape Industries.

Hard surfaces can also get dirty, and people may use harsh cleaners to keep their paves areas pristine.  Run-off from these can flow into water courses and damage local wildlife ecosystems.

Avoid Visible Soil

When trying to run a good garden, keep exposed soil to a minimum.  Patches of sandy soil can be useful for mining bees, but in general, bare earth doesn’t help wildlife.  When you’re growing food crops, inter plant between rows of vegetables.  Allow plants to work as cover crops, shielding the soil from erosion, protecting it from having minerals and nutrients washed out, and adding to soil health as these rot down.

This illustration shows Cabbage and Leeks growing under a cover of French marigold Tagetes patula and chives.  French marigold is a common companion plant, helping plants like tomato and aubergine to thrive.  Although it actual competes with Cabbage, it does have the benefit of repelling Cabbage white butterflies and caterpillars, which is why this good garden combines the two.  For more on Companion planting, see 10 suggestions of good companions on the Gardener’s World site.

Vegetable gardening

You can even choose to plant cover crops or green manures on areas of bare soil, expressly to improve the soil.  Nitrogen fixing plants like White clover or Alfalfa are good for this.

White clover Trifolium repens

Grow Perennials and grass, not Annuals and Vegetables

If you can, grow grasses and perennial flowers rather than short-lived annuals and vegetable crops which. once removed, leave the soil like a desert.  Some grass species are highly ornamental and look beautiful.  Many wild flowers are perennial, such as Cornflower and Foxglove.  Obviously, these will vary according to where you’re gardening.  Perennials are good for the gardener, too.  You no longer need to go and buy new bedding plants every year.  Perennials will return year after year, and many will also self seed.

Foxglove Digitalis purpurea

Planting grasses and perennials, be they native or not, is a good way to look after both animal visitors and the soil.  For more on what to plant, and how best to encourage butterflies to yoru garden, check out my blog.

Compost

Every good garden will have a compost heap, or two.  Worm bins are excellent ways of getting the most from food waste, you can even build your own!  Making your own compost means you don’t need to spend money on fertilizer or, even worse, buy unsustainable peat.

Compost heap

For information on how to make your own compost (and it isn’t difficult) check out this guide from the Wildlife Trusts.  Compost rots down, so it’s a good way to get rid of garden waste without resorting to bonfires or taking green waste to the tip.

Compost degrading over time

In Scandinavia (as elsewhere), thermal composters are popular.  This method of composting basically compresses compost, meaning the layers of organic matter and microbes involved in decomposition are in closer contact.  Garden waste may need to be broken down into smaller parts with a chipper, but the benefits are higher yields of compost and compost free of weed seeds.  It also doesn’t smell, is ready in 30 – 90 days, breaks down pesticides, and kills eggs and maggots of flies.

Hot composter with Robin perched on top

Leave Weeds on the Flower bed

This is new to me, but leaving weeds on the flower bed keeps the soil covered, and allows their nutrients to leach back into the soil.

Weeds left to rot on soil

Rainwater

Preserving rainwater is a great idea if you’re wanting to create a good garden.

Water but on left hand side

Water butts can be fixed to guttering, and will collect all the rain water that falls on the entire roof area.  Rain water is free from chemicals which are added to water that we get from taps; things like chlorine and fluoride.  Tap water isn’t bad for watering plants, but rainwater is much better.  According to the Royal Horticultural Society, rainwater “is free from hard water elements and is the correct pH for the majority of plants, including acid-lovers such as rhododendrons and camellias.”

Water butt collecting rain from the roof

Although it can be tricky finding enough places to put water butts, looking after rain water is a really good idea.  You can also combine it with installing a wildlife pond.

Wildlife pond being fed by rainwater

This is another excellent idea which encourages wildlife.  Rain water, devoid of chlorine, is by far the best option for aquatic species.  For more on how to establish a wildlife pond, check out the Wildlife Trust’s guide.

Wildlife pond

No dig Garden

Digging used to be de-rigeur for any gardener.  Many would double dig, every year.  Recent research suggests that doing this can be really bad for soil health.  It breaks up the microscopic networks of fungal hyphae, stopping them from interacting with the roots of plants.  There’s a lot of symbiosis between fungal and plant roots, on a cellular level, and such brutal treatment of soil makes this relationship impossible to sustain.

Double digging is now thought to be bad for soil health

But how can you aerate the soil, making it light enough for plants to grow into?  In the past, this was seen as one of the prime reasons for digging.

Alternatives are numerous.  You can plant Teasels Dipsacus fullonum, or other plants with seriously long and strong tap roots which break up the soil.  Teasels are also great for wildlife as their seed-heads produce thistle-like seed deep into winter, a real treat for goldfinch and other birds.

Goldfinch Carduelis carduelis and teasels

Mulching, growing a green manure like clover or alfalfa, and adding organic matter all help break up the soil.  Without damaging that all important fungal – plant symbiosis.  The Welsh Botanic Garden have more on the benefits of a “no dig” system.

Introduce Climbing plants

The more surface area you can cover with green growth, the better. Good gardens not only grow horizontally, but vertically too.  This means putting up trellis on buildings, and encouraging climbing plants.  Roses or clematis clambering up a house can look wonderful, and provide wonderful safe havens for overwintering insects and nesting birds.

House festooned with climbing plants like clematis, wisteria, and rose

Sometimes, you don’t even need to do any planting.  In my garden, Ivy sprawls across the whole of the back wall.  In winter it’s alive with flies and hoverflies, and spring sees it full of sparrow nests.  Although it’s not great for the wall, on balance I think it’s worth it.  And I never lifted a finger!

Ivy Hedera helix growing on a wall

Some plants are remarkably good at growing up things.  Old Man’s beard, Clematis vitalba can swallow up an abandoned building or a dead tree, and provide lots of safe spaces for wildlife.  Although this is an introduced species in Sweden, it’s become so ubiquitious that many Swedes are surprised to hear that it’s not a native plant.

Old Man’s Beard Clematis vitalba

Don’t Mow too much!

Mowing a lawn too often is a sure fire way to turn a good garden into a wildlife desert.  Even if you like carefully manicured turf, consider leaving islands of long grass unmown.  Small mammals can live in these pockets, and the long grasses shelter insects like grasshoppers, ants, and beetles.

Short tail or Field vole Microtus agrestis in grass

Pollinators thrive, feeding on the nectar and pollen of the wild flowers that inevitably also grow in these long-grass islands.  Many caterpillars have grasses as their main food plant.  It’s thought that you can bring up to 10x more bees to your garden if you simply avoid mowing all your grass too much (Plantlife 2019)!

Small skipper Thymelicus sylvestris on grasses

In the UK there’s an initiative called “No Mow May” in which gardeners and local councils are encouraged to put aside the lawn mowers for the month of May and allow butterflies, pollinators, and wild flowers to thrive.  It’s been hugely successful, and is becoming a given for any good garden.

Long areas of grass left unmown

Conclusion

There are many things you can do to turn your outdoor space into a good garden.  Don’t feel guilty if you’re unable (or unwilling) to make all these changes, or make them all at once.  Every small step taken will help.  And whether you’re gardening in Sweden, Britain, America, or anywhere else; trying to do something to help encourage wildlife and wild flowers in your own backyard has got to be a good idea.

For lots of good resources on how to garden well for wildlife (in the UK), check out Plantlife’s website.

Completed illustration of the “good garden”

Below is the annotated pencil rough of the Swedish “good garden” illustration.  It might help clarify any parts of the finished illustration that seem unclear.

Annotated wildlife garden illustration

The post Good Garden: A wildlife Haven appeared first on Lizzie Harper.

There are two main Birch trees in the UK, the Silver birch Betula pendula and the Downy birch Betula pubescens.  The Downy birch tends to grow better in wetter areas and in the north.  The Silver birch likes drier soils and is often found growing ornamentally in gardens and cities.

Both reach heights of 30m and can have a 20m spread.

They are pioneer species, easy to recognise, represent guardianship and fertility, and they are used to make everything from shoes to bobbins.  Birch also treats ailments as diverse as gout and skin disorders.

Birch trees support over 300 insect species, and birch woodland provides a wonderful habitat for woodland flowers.

This is one of a series of blogs I’m writing on common British trees.  You can also see blogs on the Elder, the Yew, the Ash, the Oak, the Holly, the Sycamore, the Rowan, the Beech, and the Hawthorn.

Identification: Tree shape

Birches have a slender shape, and twigs which can droop.

They are often the first to colonize a landscape which has been devastated by fire or deforestation.  When it comes to re-wilding, scrubby birch wood is often the first step.  This makes them pioneer species, settling the land and making it accessible to other plant species.

Birch is the commonest tree in Scotland, and the Downy birch stretches way up into the arctic.  For more on trees growing in such inhospitable climates, check out my blog on illustrating The Treeline by Ben Rawlence.

Identification: Leaves

Leaves are more or less triangles, with toothed margins.  Each leaf is up to 6cm long, and shiny green.  In autumn they turn to a bright, pale yellow.

Downy birch have less jagged margin teeth than the Silver birch, and the leaves are diamond-shaped, and less rounded.  However, the two birches frequently hybridize, hence me popping them into the same blog.

Identification: Flowers

The birch is monoecious, which means it carries male and female flowers on the same plant.   These are wind pollinated catkins.  Male catkins are yellowish, and grow through the winter maturing as the birch leaves grow in spring, then dropping.  These are long catkins, easily visible, and carried in groups of 3 or 4 at the tips of the shoots.

Catkins of the DownyBirch

Female catkins are smaller, and bright green.  They’re borne upright and flower in April through May,

Catkins of the Silver birch

Identification: Fruit

After pollination, the female catkin thickens and develops a dark crimson colour.  Masses of tiny seeds are released from this fruit, and borne off in the wind.

Fruiting catkins of the Downy birch

Identification: Bark

Silver birch bark is what gives the tree its name.  It’s paper white, and can be peeled from the tree in sheets.  There are often dark diamonds present, and older trees may have far darker trunks, especially towards the tree base.

The white colour reflects UV light, some suggest it works like a sunscreen in areas where reflected light from the snow can be blinding.

Buds are long, purplish and pointed.

Twigs are drooping and smooth, with dark warts.  The shoots of Silver and Downy birch can be used to tell them apart.  Silver birch shoots are smooth with warts, whereas those of Downy birch are rough, warty, and covered in short, downy hair.

Similar species

The white bark sets these trees apart from others, and the little triangular leaves with their jagged edges are unlike other large tree leaves.

Most sources suggest the main problem here is telling your Downy form your Silver birch, other species don’t get a mention!

History: Folklore

The Birch is seen as a guardian tree, and a way to keep evil spirits at bay.

Baby cradles would be made form birch to keep the devil away, and people would bring bundles of birch wood into their homes at Halloween to repel the evil spirits.  Birch brooms swept out dirt, but also got rid of the devil, and a garland of birch twigs might be hung over the door for protection.

However, witches broomsticks were also meant to be birch wood, so there’s some disconnect there.

Birch is also closely linked to fertility.  Using a switch of birch on a heifer would either ensure she got pregnant, or that the calf was healthy.

In Britain, if a couple wished to live together but not marry, they could step over a birch broomstick together.  Once done, they could live as man and wife.

When Beltaine came around on May 1st, with all its’ links to spring and fertility, it would be the Birch tree chosen as the wood for the maypole.  In some places, this festival meant any legal bonds between couples could be lifted for 24hrs, and there was frequently a spike in birth-rate at the start of the following February.  It will come as no surprise that these practices left the Christian church apoplectic, but powerless to do much about it.

Birch also relates to motherhood and femininity.  Russian folklore has the Birch as the “Lady of the Woods”, while there are close links between the Irish goddess Brigid and the Birch.  Brigid was the goddess of poetry, something of a muse, and responsible for spinning and weaving.

History: Mankind and Birch wood

Birch wood is pale and soft and not very durable.  It’s used for walking sticks and broom handles, and makes good charcoal.  It also makes good skateboards!  Bobbins and spinning reels were made of birch wood, back in the days of the Lancashire Cotton industry.

The bark has been used to make a plethora of things.  Sheets of bark were perfect as paper substitutes.  Applied to roofs, it provided a level of waterproofing against the rain.  You could mould the bark into shoes, or use strips woven together to make baskets for soft fruit.

Canoes and boats, hats, firelighters, and rolled bark candles were all made from Birch bark.

Powdered birch helped ensure you had a pale complexion.

Leaves yield a reddish dye, while the catkins provide a sunshine yellow colour.

History: Food and Medicine

The sap of the Birch was gathered and made into wine.  This was fed to those afflicted with kidney stones, or urinary tract infections.

Tea made from birch leaves worked on gout and again on kidney stones.  The leaves are indeed full of flavonoids, a type of anti-oxidant.

Birch bark oil was used to treat skin disorders like eczema and psoriasis; the same substance was used to waterproof boats.

In the north, after a sauna you can stimulate circulation by beating yourself with a birch stick.  And, while we’re on the topic of beating, the dreaded old school cane was often made of birch.

Birch and Wildlife

Birch woodland has a light, airy canopy.  This proves excellent for wild flowers like Wood anemone, Violets, Bluebell, and Wood sorrel, as well as for mosses.

Over 300 insect species are associated with birch, including a lot of aphid species.  In turn, this means that Birch trees are great for ladybirds who feast on the aphids.  Moths such as Angleshades, Buff tip, and Kentish Glory have Birch as host plant for their caterpillars.

Birds use the birch too; siskin and greenfinch eat the seeds while woodpecker nest in tree cavities.

Fungus are common on the woodland floor with Fly agaric, Woolly milk cap, Chanterelle, and the Birch polypore closely associated with the birch.

Fly agaric Amanita muscaria

Threats

The threats to Birch in the UK are limited,  Plantations can fall prey to Birch dieback, which is caused by two fungal species.  However, self-seeded trees seem more immune.

As with every single species, the climate emergency presents challenges to birch trees living very far north.  However, it’s probably the Downy birch tree’s incremental growth further and further northward that forms a more immediate ecological threat.

Conclusion

Birch are elegant ornamental trees, instantly recognised thanks to their white bark.

With links to protection and fertility, and the ability to heal skin diseases and be used for building canoes, it’s a fascinating tree.

The most common tree in the whole of Scotland, and stretching across vast swathes of the planet, the Birch is worthy of our respect, and love.

Online sources for this blog include websites of The Woodland Trust, Kew’s Plants of the World, Tree guide UK, Trees for life, and Naturespot.  Reference books for this blog include the excellent The Greenwood Trees by Christina Hart-Davies  , and the Reader’s Digest The Field Guide to the Trees and Shrubs of Britain (out of print but commonly available second-hand).  I also referred to The Tree Forager by Adele Nozedar and The Living Wisdom of Trees by Fred Hageneder.

The post Trees: Birch appeared first on Lizzie Harper.

Beech trees are common across Britain, favouring chalky soils.  The oldest Beech trees live up to 400 years.  You’ll find them in open spaces and in woodland and can tell them straight away by their smooth bark.  The trees produce beech mast which is nutritious for animals, and the canopy supports wildlife.  Beech wood is used in furniture making, and has links to the earliest of books.  It’s associated with knowledge and femininity, and has been used to treat ailments and as food.

This is one of a series of blogs I’m writing on common British trees.  You can also see blogs on the Elder, the Yew, the Ash, the Oak, the Holly, the Sycamore, the Rowan, and the Hawthorn.

Identification: Tree shape

The Beech grows up to 30m tall, and its’ shape varies according to where it’s growing.  In open fields, the branches spread into a wide canopy.  In confined woodland there are few side branches and a much straighter silhouette.

Identification: Leaves

In spring, as they unfurl, Beech leaves are a bright acid green, and are covered in downy hairs.  As they mature they become a more modest green, and in autumn have a pretty consistent warm tan colour.  Leaves are 4 to 9cm long, and are oval with smooth but wavy margins.  They’re arranged alternately.  Each leaf has 5 to 9 pairs of veins.

Leaves overlap, making an umbrella-like canopy with shields the floor below from rain.  They also are rich in lignin, which means they decompose slowly. This means the woodland floor is often a difficult habitat, dry and carpeted with persistent crunchy leaves.  You could know you’re in a beech wood by sound alone.

Beech trees hang onto their leaves through winter, which is known as macrescence.

Be aware that the common Copper beech is a varient of this native species.  It looks similar, but the leaves are a dark maroon instead of green.

Identification: Flowers

Male and female flowers are carried on the same plant, and are pollinated by the wind.  Female flowers grow in pairs, within a little cup.  Male flowers are catkins carried on long, tassel-like catkins.  Flowers appear as the young leave emerge in spring.

Identification: Fruit

Beech nuts are known as mast, and consist of three triangular nuts encased in a spiny case.  This splits open, revealing the chestnut-brown nuts surrounded by a pale velvety lining.

They’re produced in real abundance once every four or five years, which is known as a mast year.

Identification: Bark and buds

Beech bark is really distinctive.  It’s very smooth and pale grey.  It stretches as it grows, so when names are carved on beech trees they become distorted over time.

The bark is sensitive to sunlight.  If an older tree is suddenly exposed to a lot of direct sun, the bark will get “sunburn” and this can kill the whole tree.

Buds are distinctively pointed and slender, reddish brown and with a clear criss-cross pattern.  No other trees in Britain have quite such pointy buds, which (along with the bark) means it’s easy to identify in winter.

Similar species

Because of the smooth bark and persistent leaves, beech isn’t readily confused with other trees.  Hornbeam Carpinus betulus has similar shaped wavy leaves, but these have teeth on the margins

History: Folklore

Beech trees have been associated with knowledge and femininity.  In Britain, the Beech is sometimes called “the queen of the woods”.  Romans had sacred beech groves, some dedicated to Jupiter, and some to Diana, Goddess of animals and the hunt.

Writing and learning have associations with the Beech, possibly because of its links to the invention of the book.

In Westphalia, in Germany, up til the 18^th century there was a tale that babies weren’t brought by the stork, but found in the hollows of Beech trees.

Finally, druids often used beech twigs for water divination.

History: Mankind and Beech wood

The wood of beech is hard and heavy, but not tough.  It’s no good for building as it can’t bear weight, but responds well to steaming so has been used to make the backs and legs of Windsor chairs and other bentwood furniture.  Trees were often pollarded for this purpose.

The wood burns hot, and was used in industry – fuelling fires for iron, glass, and charcoal production.

Beech mast is over 50% oil, so the nuts have been used as a source of furniture polish.  Meanwhile the leaves, non-degrading and persistent were used to stuff (presumably very noisy!) mattresses.

Beech tar was used as glue from paleo to mesolithinc times.

Before the invention of paper, thin slabs of beech wood were used to write on, and sometimes bound into prototype books.  There’s evidence of this in Germany in the 1300s.  There’s some suggestion that Guttenburg had the idea for his historic press after writing on beech wood and noticing the pressure made a print on the page below.

History: Food and Medicine

The beech mast is highly nutritious, providing oil and protein, but is very difficult to access.  In general, it was fed to cattle, goats, pigs, and sheep who foraged in woodland, or gathered up and fed to overwintering livestock.

However, in times of hardship, and until the Iron age, beech mast was roasted and made into flour.  In France, the roast mast was used to make a coffee-like drink.

Newly emergent leaves are tender and can be used in salads and soups.

Beechwood tar was used as chewing gum, and I’m sure even in my childhood in the 1970s you could buy packets of Beech nut chewing gum,

Medicinally, Beech was used to treat bronchitis and has astringent, antiseptic and disinfectant properties.  These were recognized by early Europeans and by the First Nations People in the Americas, who used bark preparations to fight fever.

It’s also used to treat animal hoof ailments, and in soap production.

Beech and Wildlife

The unusually shady forest floor found in beech woodland initially seems devoid of life.  However, some rare plants like the Coralroot bittercress and Red helleborine love these conditions, as do fungi.

Truffles can grow here, and in the past beech woods were planted to encourage them.

Moths feed on the leaves, namely the Olive Cresent, Barred Hook-tip, and Clay triple-line species.

Wood boring insects and larger animals like woodpeckers often make their homes within the tree.

The beech mast feeds a whole ecosystem; from voles to badgers, squirrels to jays, mice to great tits, woodpeckers to nuthatches.

Threats

When compared to other British tree species, the Beech isn’t in too much trouble.

At around 200 years old they can develop core rot in they’re growing in an environment low in tannic acid.  Basically, this means anywhere without Oak trees growing nearby.  This can kill them.

The trees can suffer root rot, caused by fungus like Phytopora,

Beech bark disease is caused by scale insects and a canker fungus.  This causes lesions to appear on the bark every year.  Eventually, these encircle the tree and thus can kill it.

However, a swifter way for a Beech to be “girdled” is when Grey squirrels come and strip all the bark off.  This can soon result in death and is especially problematic in younger trees.

Conclusion

The Beech tree is common, easy to spot, and useful.  With the smooth bark, pointy buds, and over-wintering orange-ish leaves, it’s easy to identify.  Although not used in building or as food; the wood and beech mast has proved vital over the centuries.  From chair backs to chewing gum, charcoal production to ancient flour, livestock feed to books, fevers to ancient glue; the Beech tree has served mankind well.

They’re pretty trees, and well worth a closer look next time you’re in a woodland with crunchy leaves underfoot.

Online sources for this blog include websites of The Woodland Trust, Kew’s Plants of the World, Tree guide UK, Trees for life, and Naturespot.  Reference books for this blog include the excellent The Greenwood Trees by Christina Hart-Davies  , and the Reader’s Digest The Field Guide to the Trees and Shrubs of Britain (out of print but commonly available second-hand).  I also referred to The Tree Forager by Adele Nozedar and The Living Wisdom of Trees by Fred Hageneder.

The post Trees: Beech appeared first on Lizzie Harper.

The Elder Sambucus nigra is common in hedgerows and woodland, and appears as a shrub as often as a tree.  It has strongly scented blossoms in spring, deep purple berries in autumn, and pale wood.

There’s an enormous amount of folklore associated with this species, and it’s a firm favourite with both foragers and those interested in herbal remedies.

Identification: Tree shape

Elder grows as trees up to 10m, or as shrubs.  Branches are often curved, and the wood is brittle.  Elder trees have short trunks or “boles”.  Compared to other tree species, elder don’t have loads of branches, and these grow from low down.

Elder tree

You often see Elder trees in thickets or scrubby woodland, or growing alongside streams with a variety of other species.  If an Elder is given space and light, it’ll grown into a tree.

Elder shrubs are common too as the species shows in both growth habits.  Lots of branches emerge at ground level, forming a thicket of a bush.

This species loves nitrogen-rich habitats, and will colonise anywhere where people have lived, or where nitrogen levels are high in the soil (such as fields where animals have been grazed).  It grows fast, and establishes itself quickly.  If you see a tree growing from a wall or in a farmyard, it’s very likely to be an Elder.

Identification: Leaves

Elder leaves are compound, that is made of lots of leaflets (for more on leaf shape, check out my blog).  In this case, there are 5 to 7 leaflets, with one terminal leaflet.  Leaflets are opposite each other.  Although the leaves have a relatively long stalk, each individual leaflet lies close to the stem.  Each leaflet is 3 to 9 cm long.

Elder leaf and pencil study

The leaves of Elder are oval and a bright pale green.  They’re toothed along the margins. (Click here for my blog on leaf veins and margins).

Elder branch with two compound leaves (each made of five leaflets)

The venation of the leaves isn’t very obvious, and is rather similar to that of lots of other oval leaves.  Side veins branch from the central mid-rib, and are mostly opposite one another.

Elder leaves

Some people think Elder leaves smell nasty, and although they do let off a pungent odour when bruised, I wouldn’t call it unpleasant.

Identification: Flowers

The creamy froth of elder flowers is instantly recognizable, by smell as well as by sight.  The smell is a heady perfume, and one of my favourite scents of summer.

Flowers cover the tree or shrub, borne in flat-headed umbels. Each umbel is 10 to 20 cm across; individual flowers are 5mm across.  Looking into the branching structure, you can see there are five main rays to each umbel.

Sketchbook study figuring out flower growth pattern

The flowers are closely packed, and have cream or white petals.  Anthers are a creamy colour too.  Each individual flower has five rounded petals, and 5 stamens.  Anthers protrude beyond the petals, helping the umbel look even frothier.

Small flies pollinate the flowers, which may explain why the scent of the blossom is so heady and heavy.  Elderflowers appear in May or June and will be in flower for 4 to 6 weeks.

Individual elder flowers

Identification: Fruit

Elderberries are shiny and black when fully ripe.  The branches they’re borne on are frequently flushed dark magenta.  Unripe berries are crimson.  Each berry is square-ish, and very juicy.

Sketchbook study of elder berries

It’s really common to see elder berries in partial umbels – lots of the berries will have fallen off or been eaten; the remainders look scruffy because of the empty stalks along side them.  They last well into late autumn, eventually shrivelling or falling in the frosts.

Working on an elderberry illustration

The berries are very rich in vitamin A and C and provide a vital food supply for birds and small mammals.  However, they are also quite sour, and both leaves and berries are rich in Hydrogen cyanide.  This can cause vomiting in people.  For a fascinating look at poisons in our everyday foods, check out this BBC Future article I stumbled on.

Identification: Bark

The bark of an elder tree is thick, smooth and corky; deep ridges develop with age. The branches are smooth, with pithy insides.  This pith can be removed to leave a hollow twig, and elder wood has been used for centuries to make whistles and musical instruments.

Twigs have obvious lenticels and are thick and greyish, or greenish.

The jelly ear fungus Auricularia judae is a brownish jelly-like fungus that often grows on elder and I use it as another way to identify the species.

Similar species

Some other tree species also have frothy white blossoms.  The Rowan does, but the flowers are far less scented, and the tree rarely grows as a shrub.  Guelder rose also has panicles of white flowers, but these are much larger blossoms and the leaves are a totally different shape.  The berries are orange and scarlet, never black.  However, as Guelder rose also forms a shrub, it’s worth a mention.

Guelder rose Viburnum opulus

Ash Fraxinus excelsior, Walnut Juglans regia, and Rowan Sorbus aucuparia  also have compound leaves, but the walnut leaves are arranged in an alternate pattern.  Ash leaves have more obvious veins and feel less “flat” than elder.  Rowan leaves are smaller and sharper.  All have toothed margins, but with a little experience you’ll notice differences between the shape and sharpness of the teeth.

Ash twig and leaves Fraxinus excelsior

History: Folklore

Like Hawthorn and Rowan, Elder is alive with folklore and history.  It’s interesting that all three of these trees produce highly visible white blossoms and distinctive colourful berries.  I guess they were easily recognized, common, and therefore very much in people’s awareness for millenia.

Elder has long been associated with “the little people”, and those who believe in faery folk will be very familiar with it.  If you were lucky, you might see the Queen of the Fairies passing by under an elder on Midsummer eve.  Lots of references advise against sleeping under an elder; this also relates to belief in other-worldly peoples.

Elder shrub

If you had to chop down an elder tree, you were supposed to ask permission from the Elder mother, a female spirit that inhabited the tree.

It was seen as a protective tree, and would be planted near houses and dairies.  Cheese cloths would be hung to dry on elder branches, and it was thought to prevent the milk form turning.  Interestingly, the elder leaves do repel flies, so these beliefs could have contributed to the hygiene of the dairy.  Herdsmen would carry elder switches.

Elder berries and leaves

However, there was a darker side.  A child beaten with an elder stick would never grow.  Judas Iscariot was said to have hung himself from an elder tree, and criminals were crowned with elder as a symbol of their shame.  Again on a Christian theme, there was a suggestion that the cross on which Jesus was crucified was elder wood.  It was not to be brought into the house, and if you burnt it you were sure to see the devil.  Witches could transform themselves into Elder.

The rule of thumb was to treat the elder with a healthy dose of respect.  And caution.

History: Food

The flowers of the elder can be used to make a lovely scented champagne, or fried as fritters.

Once heated, the berries can be reduced into deliciously strong-flavoured jams and jellies and syrups.

Illustrating elder berries

Flowers and berries are made into drinks and cordials.  Until 1900 you could buy spiced elderberry wine in the streets of London.

The most famous elder drink is the spirit Sambucca, made from elder berries and aniseed.  Traditionally, this is presented with one coffee bean and is set on fire as it’s served.

History: Medicine

Most parts of the elder have been used for medicine.  There’s some suggestion that even the ancient Egyptians used elderberries medicinally.  The medieval herbalist John Evelyn described elder as, “a kind of Catholicon against all Infirmities whatever”.

Berries are high in vitamins C and A, and (once you’ve destroyed the hydrogen cyanide by heating) are used to cure a plethora of conditions.  Sore-throats, coughs, respiratory problems – all were treated with elderberry syrup or “rob”.  They’re also a laxative, and diuretic.

The bark is a strong purgative.  Leaves can be crushed into poultices that are applied to bruises, sprains, and chill-blains.

Flowers are dried into tea and used to treat colds.  You can also wash your face in water soaked with elderflower to preserve your youthful looks.  Even today, elderflower is used in eye and skin lotions.  Some say that if you soak elderflower in cold water it helps relieve symptoms of hay-fever.

Adele Nozedar, whose books I illustrate, foraging for elderberries

Elder is rich in anthocyanins and antioxidants, both of which are known to boost the immune system.

Uses

There is a lot of pith in elder branches, which means when you hollow them out they make good musical instruments.  Children made small toys and penny whistles from elder wood.  The wood was also used to make pipes, pea-shooters and bellows.  Small spoons, and combs were sometimes made from elder wood.

The pith was used as a blotter, and to hold botanical specimens whilst they were being prepared for microscope slides or botanical sections.

Elder berries and leaves

Harder mature elder wood was sometimes made into cogs for machines.

The leaves contain natural fly repellent which probably explains why they were so often planted near houses and stables.

Finally, the elder is really useful as it produces a whole variety of different dyes.  The leaves give a green hue, flowers produce a lilac colour.  The berries make for deep and fade-resistant black and purples.  And even the bark was used to make black dye, used either for dying wool or ones hair.  The highly esteemed Harris tweed used elder to dye its’ materials, even though elder trees are less common in northern Scotland than in the rest of the UK.

Elder: Wildlife

The berries are eaten by birds and mammals, and the leaves are food for the Buff ermine, dot, White-spotted pug, and Swallow-tail moth caterpillars.  Insects drink the nectar from the flowers.  Voles and dormice eat flowers and berries.

Field vole Microtus agrestis

Threats

Luckily, not too many things threaten this amazing tree.  Red spider mites can suck the sap of the tree, and blackfly damage leaves.

Conclusion

Elder is an extraordinarily adaptable plant.  It’s been associated with Jesus, witches and fairies.  It can bring good or bad luck.  Berries are poisonous but can be made into delicious syrups.  The flowers can be eaten, used as a beauty treatment, or used against colds.  Elder wood makes toys, cogs, and instruments.  Personally, what I love most about elder is the smell when the flowers are out.  The buzzing of flies, the heavy scent in the air, and the rustle of leaves in a gentle breeze.  It sums up summer for me.

Jersey Post Fruits and Berries stamp issue copyright Jersey Post 2019

Online sources for this blog include websites of The Woodland Trust, Trees for life, and Naturespot.  Book references for this blog include Adele Nozedar’s The Tree Forager, the excellent The Greenwood Trees by Christina Hart-Davies, and the Reader’s Digest “The Field Guide to the Trees and Shrubs of Britain” (out of print but commonly available second-hand).

The post Trees: Elder appeared first on Lizzie Harper.

Sketchbook pages

FOR have commissioned several sets of invasive species over the years, and favour the sketchbook approach.

For me, this is a treat.  Sketchbook studies incorporate all the important aspects of a plant that help you to identify it.  However, you can pick and choose which elements to work up to a finished level.  This gives me an enormous amount of freedom to play about with composition, and to focus on aspects of the plant that really interest me.  There’s a gallery of these on my website, and many originals (including the Heath star moss) are available to buy.

Himalayan Blackberry Rubus armeniacus for FOR

Illustrating Moss

I’ve illustrated moss before, and always enjoy it.  These plants are so totally different from the normal vascular species I illustrate, and that’s one of the things I love about them.  Their details are tiny, which also appeals to me.  Luckily, I’ve got lots of books on moss (such as Mosses and Liverworts of Britain and Ireland by Atherton, Bosanquet, and Lawley) which are invaluable.

Red bog moss Sphagnum capillifolium

Anatomical details that need including are the shoots which emerge from the main body of the moss, sometimes known as the protonema.  Spores and the shoots bearing them (sporophytes) need to be recorded, along with the spore capsules and their hoods (calyptra).  Individual gametophyte shoots also need illustrating. Stems (also referred to as the caulid or axis) and individual leaves (phyllids) need detailing, along with information on the cellular structure of the leaves.

There seem to be quite a lot of different terms for the same structures, depending on which bryologist you ask.  For this reason, do excuse any botanical mistakes I might make in this blog!

Sphagnum capillifolium details

Illustrating these elements requires pretty full on dives into my moss books, and often the community of bryologists on Twitter or the British bryological society help out.  One day, I need to get one of these lovely and eminent botanists to write a guest blog on the theme “Introduction to Mosses”.  It’d be invaluable for me, as well as other moss-dabblers!

Heath star moss: Specimen

The first thing to do is to get my hands on some actual Heath star moss.  I’m extremely fortunate to know one Ray Woods, a top moss expert, who lives nearby.  Despite the world being in Covid-19 lockdown, he found some Campylopus introflexus on his greenhouse roof and sent it to me.

Next, I drew it up in pencil and, once I got the ok from the client, could apply some colour.

Heath star moss: Is it wet…or is it dry?

One of the quirks of this particular species is that it looks totally different when it’s wet and when it’s dry.  When wet, it has a bright green, star-like appearance.

Wet Heath star moss Campylopus introflexus

When it’s dry it looks almost black, and very scaly,  Each phyllid (leaflet) has a long, glassy tip.  These bend at sharp angles when they’re dry.  Tons of these tiny “leaves” with their white, spindly points makes a patch of Heath star moss look almost hoary.  This was an absolute pain to draw, but become easier to understand, visually, once I got some colour on the illustration.

Heath star moss Campylopus introflexus

The two illustrations above are of the exact same specimen.  I didn’t have a lot of the moss, so only broke off a fragment and allowed it to dry in the airing cupboard.  The rest I kept moist as I needed to illustrate details of the spore capsule and phyllids, which are easier to manage when wet.

Heath star moss: Individual shoots

As well as a clump of moss, I needed to include details of the individual shoots when wet and dry.  The main focus here has to be the points.  I’m tempted to call them awns, as one would do if talking about grasses, but am pretty sure they have their own specific name somewhere….  These tips are always bent, but become very recurved when the moss is dry.  It’s a diagnostic of the species; if these spines recurve more than 90 degrees then it’s probably the Heath star moss.

Heath star moss Campylopus introflexus shoots

I also include top views of the shoot (also referred to as a fascicle.  See, I told you there were lots of different words for the same things!), although this didn’t help much with the dry specimen.

To ensure botanical honesty, these illustrations are both pf the exact same fascilce.

Heath star moss: Cellular details

The next challenge was to look at an individual phyllid.  I had access to good microscopic images from the British bryological society, and thanks to Ray I could also get my compound and dissecting microscope out on real specimens.  Knowing I was working with the correct species is more reassuring than I can possibly tell you.  I am forever indebted to ray who has often given me labelled specimens of moss.

Heath star moss Campylopus introflexus microscopic details

So here is an image of an individual phyllid, and its margin under a higher magnification.  I was keen to have the spine clearly included.  Below are some of the British bryological society reference photos I was able to use.

The shape of the cells at the edge of the phyllid is often species specific (as in this case), hence including the detail.

Heath star moss: Sporophyte

Illustrating the sporophyte was much easier.  My specimen had a few spore cases, so I had a look at them under the microscope.  I couldn’t identify or get images of any spores, but decided that didn’t matter too much.  The shape and colour of the spore capsule was the main thing.

Heath star moss Campylopus introflexus sporophyte

I think the stems (caulid or axis) might be more wiggly and curled up when the specimen is dry, but as I didn’t see mention of this in the literature I decided not to make that a focus.

Heath star moss; Habit sketch

The easiest part of this sheet was completing the habit sketch.  I had photos of clumps of this moss, and I had my specimen.  I’ve also got a decent idea of what the limestone substrate it’s growing on looks like.  It was a simple matter of collating these resources.

I added a yellow leaf for scale, and decided pretty fast that the habit sketch would be of the moss when it was wet.  Drawing it dry had already made me come close to despair.  In any case, it looks lovely when it’s wet and far less appealing when dried out.

Heath star moss Campylopus introflexus on stone

Conclusion

When the sheet was done, I was really pleased.  It included all the required details, and hung together (more or less) as a composition.

When I illustrate moss, I take one contact lens out so I can see the detail.  I leave the other one in.  A week of doing this left me with my head spinning (but no headaches, luckily).  I was relieved the commission was complete.

Without Ray and the British bryological society there’s no way I’d be able to illustrate mosses.  And I absolutely am on the look out for someone with the skills and willingness to write a guest blog here on the basic anatomy of moss.

But for now, I just look forward to the next time an email pops into my inbox, asking for an illustration of another species of moss.

If you’d like to see how FOR have used my sketchbook studies, please take a look at the PDFs available on their website.  There’s a list at the bottom right.  Telling which species is which is tricky though, my Swedish isn’t any good at all!

The post Heath Star Moss Sketchbook study appeared first on Lizzie Harper.

This one of the Cow parsley,  Anthriscus sylvatica, was recently done for FOR in Sweden.  It accompanied a large sheet of sketches of the same plant.  To learn more about Cow parsley, and how to identify it, check out my blog.

There’s also a Youtube film that accompanies this blog; please find a link at the end of this blog, or click here to access it.

You’ll notice that this habit sketch is less accurate than many of my illustrations.  This goes with the territory.  There’s only so much detail you can cram into a 20cm tall illustration of an entire plant, and individual petals and leaf veins don’t get a look in.  However, if you want to show a whole plant, rather than one portion of it, then a habit sketch is the best way to do this.  Alternatively, you can use a much larger format and work on a plant portrait which will be more accurate and less impressionistic.

Completed habit sketch of the Cow parsley

Habit sketch:  Pencil rough

The first thing to do when confronted with a habit sketch is to learn as much as you can about the plant.  I gather lots of specimens, and consult various botany books.  these include A Flora of the British Isles by Clapham Tutin and Moore, The Wildflowers of the British Isles by Garrard and Streeter, the pen and ink drawings of Stella Ross-Craig, Collins Flower guide by David Streeter, and (in this case) the BSBI Handbook: Umbellifers of the British Isles.

Once the plant and botanical information is collated, I draw up a pencil rough that shows each important element to its best advantage.  I use mechanical Pentel P205 pencils with an H or HB 0.5mm lead.  I draw directly onto my watercolour paper, in this case hotpress Fluid 100 by Global Arts.

One of the reasons why I use Fluid 100 is because it’s quite good at allowing you to erase your pencil lines after you’ve painted on top of them.  Various papers will, or won’t be good for this.  The way I paint means that it’s important that a paper will give up the graphite but not the paint pigments once I’ve completed an illustration.

Cow parsley pencil rough (with basal rosette and stem details)

Are leaves alternate or opposite?  Are upper leaves noticeably different from lower ones?  is there a basal rosette of leaves?  How are the flowers carried on the stems?  What does the root do?  All this information needs to be given by the illustration.

Habit sketch: Leaves

Once the client has approved the roughs, you can start adding colour.  I begin with the leaves, outlining them in green.  Winsor and Newton are my favourite watercolours, and I use pans topped up with tube colours.  I mix sap green, some cobalt blue, and a bit of cadmium yellow light together.  I keep the paint quite thick and dry at this point.  Carefully, using my trusty Series 7 sable brush (size 1), I follow the pencil lines of the leaf edges.  This approach is the same as I use when painting ferns and bracken.

Outlining the leaves

I observe my plant carefully, and add some variation to the green hue.  The central leaf is a little paler and brighter green than the others – I add yellow to the mix and outline it with this new colour.

Different greens are used to outline the leaves

Habit sketch: Top washes on leaves

Once these initial lines are dry, I add water to the greens to make them lighter and more dilute.  Then, using the same brush, I pop blobs of this watery green onto the leaves.  I love the crisp edges watercolour gives if you allow very wet paint to dry, and this is the effect I’m after here.

Watery green top wash is applied very wet

Because of the midrib veins and the way the leaves are structured, you’ll often see one side of a leaflet is darker than the other.  This needs to be included in the habit sketch.  You can either do this by going over the darker, shaded side with two layers of top-wash; or you can use a different and brighter colour for the top-wash on the lighter side of the leaflet.

Putting the first wash onto only one side of each leaflet

In this case I’ve done both.  I added some yellow to the top-wash, and covered the entire leaflet with this mix.  (I’d made sure the first and darker wash was completely dry first.)  Allow the paint to dry completely.

Two different colours of top-wash used on the leaflets

Habit sketch: Painting the stems

I actively enjoy painting stems because it’s so easy.  Mix up the right colour (as always, check with the plants in front of you.  It’s so important to keep referring to the plants you’re illustrating if you want to get details such as form and colour right).  This is a sap green plus a little yellow ochre, perhaps a touch of blue, and plenty of a clear bright yellow such as Cadmium light.

Then just outline the stems, following the pencil lines.  You can apply a little more pressure to one side of the stem than to the other.  This helps suggest a light source, and shadow.  Traditionally in botanical illustration, the light source comes from the top left, so the heavier lines are to the right of each stem.

You can also add ridges, furrows, or textures with simple lines if that’s appropriate for the species you’re working with.  With Cow parsley, the stems are ridged, prominently so towards the base of the plant.

Outlining the stems

Once the illustration is completely dry, dilute the colour you used for the stems with plenty of water.  Then simply put this watery wash over your stems and allow it to dry.

Putting a watery top-wash onto the main stem

Habit sketch: Painting the flowers

With habit sketches, the precision and detail of each flower is compromised in an effort to represent the entire plant.  So there are no individual petals to portray, just the frothy mass of flowers that constitute each umbel (or flowering head).

Illustrating white flowers is really hard – you need to show their form without making them look like they’re another colour.  For more on this subject, check out my blog or my Youtube film.  In this case, the shadows cast by each umbel are going to be key, and will be what we use to represent some tonal depth.  As with the leaves and stems, out light source is from the top left; so the shadows will fall from the right hand side of each umbel.

To ensure the flowers look clean and white, I mix a light blue.  Cerulean blue is light and bright enough.  Dilute it to a very pale tone, then pick out the shadows with the tip of your brush.

Adding shadow to the flowers

I work from the top of the plant downwards.  this helps me avoid resting my hand in wet paint and smearing the illustration.  Series 7 brushes are expensive, but they justify their cost by holding their tips.  When you’re applying tiny amounts of pale paint to the nooks and crannies of an illustration, the accuracy you can get from your tools is really important.  For more on my choice of paintbrushes, click here.

Applying blue to show shadow in the central flowers

Habit sketch: The root

The root tends to be included in a habit sketch, specially if it’s an important diagnostic feature of the species.  Please note that it’s illegal to uproot flowers in the wild – I happen to have cow parsley growing in my Aunt’s garden, and she was happy for me to unearth a few plants to get at the roots.

Illustrating these tap roots couldn’t be easier. In exactly the same way as you tackled the stems, outline the root.  I mixed some Vandyke brown with yellow ochre.  Remember to pick out the texture and root hairs, too.  Once dry, dilute the mixed colour and pop the watery top wash over the whole root.  Done.

Putting a top-wash on the Cow parsley taproot

Habit sketch: Adding shadows

Now the illustration is more or less complete, it needs shadows to bring it to life.  I favour a mix of purple and cobalt blue, sometimes with a dash of Vandyke brown.  Using this, and being really careful not to go too dark too fast, I pick out the darkest shadows.

This is an important stage.  Judicious application of shadows can help clarify muddy or messy areas of a sketch.

Adding shadows to clarify a leaf’s structure

I always put shadows below each flowering head, and frequently pick out the tips of leaves to help the eye find the edges of the illustration.

Again, because the scale of the illustration shows an entire plant, you’ll find it hard to accurately represent the shadow details on each portion of each leaf.  This is one of the drawbacks of a habit sketch.  I often find myself trying to pull in more detail than is possible.  there has to be an element of “giving the impression” of a plant when it comes to habit sketches.  I’ll admit to struggling with this looseness at times.

Fixing mistakes

Inevitably, sometimes when we paint we make mistakes.  Quite often I’ll think that a stem I painted is too wide, or perhaps a top-wash has overflowed an edge.  There’s no need to despair.

Using white gouache to fix mistakes

I use Winsor and Newton white gouache, permanent white, to fix my mistakes.  I use it really thick, straight from the tube or mixed with a tiny amount of water.  It helps sharpen up messy edges, or will hide a mistake.  It should be noted that using this is fine for your own work and for work that’s going to be reproduced (it doesn’t show up on scans); however, if you plan on selling your original artwork then the use of white gouache is frowned on.

Conclusion

And that’s it!  The illustration is finished.

Last step is to erase the underlying pencil lines.  If you’ve got a good hot press paper, you should be able to do this without damaging any of the paint (no, I don’t understand why this works either).  I’d suggest going easy on the rubbing out around the flowers as the only marks suggesting them are the pale blue shadows and the pencil.  A tougher approach can be used on the stems and leaves and root.

Hopefully, this illustration immediately suggests an entire Cow parsley plant growing in the wild.  Habit sketches tend to accompany much more detailed botanical illustrations which help clarify exact structures of stem, root, leaf, fruits, and flowers.  I find them pretty hard to illustrate, but exceptionally useful when it comes to identifying wild flowers in the field.

And now, I hope, you’ll have some idea of how to go about creating your own illustration of an entire plant; your very own habit sketch.

Completed habit sketch of Cow parsley with paint box

To see a real-time film of me completing this illustration and discussing the process, please check out the film below.  Thanks.

The post Habit sketch of Cow parsley: step by step appeared first on Lizzie Harper.

Sketchbook studies

All the botanical illustrations I do for FOR are in a sketchbook format.  I love working this way; it gives me the opportunity to include tons of details alongside a larger illustration of the whole plant.  Over the years I’ve figured out what elements I need to include for each plant, so can figure out the composition before getting started.  In general, details of flowers, fruits seeds, roots, and a cross section of the stem is needed.  These elements need to be accompanied by a habit sketch, a full colour image that shows the entire plant growing, and close ups of any unusual characteristics that the plant may have.  I always include written notes, as much to jog my own memory as to help the viewer.

Cow Parsley Sketchbook study Anthriscus sylvestris

Another appealing thing about the sketchbook studies is that you can leave parts of the illustration unfinished.  This gives me the opportunity to get into really intense detail on things like an individual leaf, or one bract.  The pressure to have the entire drawing completed in full colour is gone, which makes the process more relaxing.

Cow Parsley in the spring

For those of you who have been in the British countryside in early June, you’ll already know all about the Cow parsley.  If frothes up along hedgerows, spilling tiny white flowers out into rarely-used roads and paths.  At the same time, the May blossom is out, so you often have the wonderful sight of lots of white blossom curving down from the shrubs and trees, being met by the Cow parsley flowers growing upward from margins of fields and lanes.  It’s very beautiful.

Drawing the Cow Parsley

Umbellifers, like Cow parsley, are a real challenge to draw.  I’m sure I’ve moaned about the challenges before in blogs on Hogweeds.  The problem is that the plant is often really tall and leaves spread widely from the stem.  However, each element of the plant is tiny.  The flowering heads are made from hundreds of tiny individual flowers.  the outermost ones are zygomorphic, meaning their outermost petals are a different shape to those of the internal flowers.  The leaves are divided, or pinnate.  Sometimes divided several times over, as with the Cow parsley.  This results in very beautiful and feathery leaves.  But combining the size with the detail is very difficult, hence my aversion to all members of the Apiaceae (or Umbelliferae) family.  I love the way they look.  I live in fear of being asked to illustrate them!

This commission came in at the height of Cow parsley season.  I spent a morning gathering perfect plants, taking photos, and considering the best approach to the illustration.  Once home, I pinned an entire plant up against the trampoline in the garden, with a sheet behind.  I always take photos at the same time, sadly plants don’t live forever and some wither within hours of being picked.

Cow parsley set up to draw in the garden

Cow Parsley: Flowering times and leaves

Identifying Cow parsley is easy, mainly because of when it flowers.  It’s the earliest of these white-flowered umbellifers to bloom, especially in the southern UK.  And it’s certainly the most common.  Look for it from early April through June; by July all you’ll see is some basal leaf rosettes and seed-heads.

Cow parsley sketchbook study done back in 2015

The leaves set the plant apart from other common and similar species, such as Hogweeds.  They are 2-3 pinnate, which means they’re divided into leaflets, then each of these leaflets is sub divided.  It gives them a feathery, fern-like appearance. They tend to be a muted spring green, although can be tinged red or yellow when stressed by drought.

Cow parsley leaf variety and plant overview to show difference between small upper and large lower leaves

Leaves either grow from a basal rosette at the bottom of the plant, or alternately up the stem.  Lower leaves are borne on long, broad stalks, higher up the plant the leaves have far shorter and thinner petioles.  The big basal leaves can be up to 30cm, with individual divided lobes measuring 10 – 30mm

Cow parsley: Stems

Stems are gently ridged, and hollow.  They don’t have blotches of colour like some other Apiaceae species.  The stems can grow from 50 – 150cm, making this quite a tall plant.  Stems tend to be slightly downy at the top, and hairless down by the base of the plant.

Cow parsley stems

Cow parsley: Flowers

The frothy flowering heads of this plant family are umbels; these are lots of little groups of flowers carried on stalks or rays.  Each umbel has 6 – 12 of these rays which are about 2cm long.  The arrangement of flowers has males in the centre and hermaphrodite flowers around the margins.  Unless you’re inclined to get your hand lens out, this won’t be immediately obvious, although you’ll certainly see a difference in size between the inside and margin flowers.

Cow parsley flowers and detail of a small umbel seen from above

Each flower has 5 white petals and is 3 – 5 mm across. A whole umbel measures 10 – 60cm, but there’s plenty of variety.

There are no bracts right below the flowers, but some appear lower down.  Sepals are there but are so tiny as to be inconspicuous.  There are 5 stamen and 2 thin stigma.

The outermost flowers are zygomorphic which means their petals are of different sizes.

Cow parsley: Fruit

Fruit are 6-9mm long and carried in pairs.  They start green and become brown at maturity.  Each one has a short beak-like tip.

Cow parsley seeds

Conclusion

Why do I love Cow parsley so much?  Well, it’s a combination of factors.  The delicacy of the frond-like leaves is visually very pleasing.  The mass of scented flowers smell of the countryside.  And the way Cow parsley lines lanes and hedges is a harbinger of warmer days, and long golden hours spent revelling in an English summertime.  So, for all of these reasons, and despite the issues with detail and scale, I’m happy to go on learning and drawing this gorgeous plant.

Illustration completed for FSC guide to Flowers of Walks & Waysides

Please see my step by step Youtube film below

The post Cow Parsley: All about an Umbellifer appeared first on Lizzie Harper.