The first featured crop is Ginseng, Panax ginseng.

Ginseng: Description

Ginseng is a member of the Apiaceae, or carrot family.  It has three to six palmate leaves with serrated leaflets; each leaf has 3 to 5 leaflets.  Clusters of 30 to 50 small red flowers are borne on long peduncles, and produces bright red berries, with white kidney-shaped seeds.  The plant reaches up to 60cm in height.  However, it’s not the leaves, flowers, or berries that are the focus of ginseng use.  It is the root, which tends to be cylindrical and have 2 branches.

Leaf of ginseng plant

Ginseng: Distribution and History of use

The ginseng is native to temperate mountainous woodland zones in Korea, NE China, and the far east of Russia.  It is now cultivated in many other countries where growing conditions can be met; including Canada, Japan, and the USA.

The first written mention of ginseng is from 2,000 years ago, although there is evidence is was used as far back as 4,500 years ago (Journal of Ginseng research. March 2013).  It’s Latin name, Panax ginseng, contains the etymological root “Panax” meaning all-healing.  This is also the same root as the word for a cure-all, a panacea.

Ginseng: Preparation and cookery

Ginseng root can be used fresh or dried.  In its’ fresh form, raw ginseng, it is 75% water, so can’t be stored for long.  It is used in traditional Chinese and Korean recipes, often in soups.

There are two dry forms. White ginseng is sun-dried from raw, and thinly peeled.  It can be straight, curved, or semi-curved. Red ginseng is steamed before being dried, and can last up to 20 years.  This red ginseng makes up the majority of health food supplements and nutritional additives which are sold in many forms.  It can be eaten in teas, drinks, as tablets, in candy, as powder, and as extracts.

Ginseng: Medicinal uses

As a cure-all, the ailments treated with ginseng are wide-ranging.  They include kidney, liver, reproductive and cardiovascular ailments; as well as a tonic for general well being.  It’s also been claimed it is a cure for alopecia; and a preventative for flu, diabetes, and cancer.  In ancient China and Korea, it was used as a love potion, and more recently it has been used to treat erectile dysfunction (“Red ginseng for treating erectile dysfunction: a systematic review” British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology 2008).  For more on the history of Ginseng use, click here.

Ginseng root contains antioxidants and vitamins (such as B1, B2, B3, B5, and B12).  Trace elements found in ginseng include zinc, copper, magnesium, calcium, iron, manganese, vanadium, potassium, sodium and phosphorus; along with volatile oil polysaccharides, pectins, and sterols. (Journal of Ginseng Research 2023).  They also contain ginsenocides which may be useful in combating disorders due to old age. ( “Panax ginseng and aging related disorders: A systematic review” de Oliveira Zanuso et al Experimental Gerontology 2022)

Ginseng root

There is little clinical proof of the medicinal benefits of ginseng use (“Panax ginseng”. MedlinePlus, 2024), although it may have some effect on general health and in reducing stress levels.  It can react unfavourably with other drugs such as anticoagulants like Warfarin, with diabetic medicines, and over 100 drugs are known to interact with it (Drugs.com).

 As with many established folk medicines, the fact that it has been in constant use for over 2,000 years carries some weight.

Ginseng berries

Ginseng: Commercial considerations

Four countries produce 99% of the world’s ginseng.  In 2013 this was 80,080 tons, with a value of $2,084 million.  Canada, the USA, and South Korea run second to South China where roughly half of the world’s ginseng is produced.

As the Journal of Ginseng Research puts it, over ten years ago, “Since the interests in alternative medicine and healthy food is increasing globally, the consumer market of ginseng…is expected to expand continuously.” (Journal of Ginseng research. March 2013)

Conclusion

Before illustrating this plant, I knew little about it.  I know you can get ginseng tea, and that it is important in Chinese and Korean traditional medicine.  The wide ranging cures and effects attributed to it amaze me, as does the commercial importance of this crop.  I am equally surprised by the appearance of the plant, with those stunning scarlet berries!

Botanical illustration is full of surprises, and doing the Ginseng illustration for the Crops Trust is another example of just that.  Keep an eye out for blogs on the other three crops illustrated; namely Pearl millet, the Date palm, and the Olive.

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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

The post Montserrat: A Model Garden appeared first on Lizzie Harper.

The Horse chestnut is easily recognized, with distinctive palmate leaves and an autumnal crop of conkers.  It was introduced from Turkey around the 1600s, and is a common tree in parklands and towns, but occurs less often in woodland.

Identification: Tree shape

The tree grows up to 40m tall and has a wide, domed canopy with foliage coming low down the tree.  Trees live up to 300 years.  It grows fast in most soils, and needs plenty of space.

Identification: Leaves

Horse chestnut leaves are palmate, consisting of 5 – 7 sharp-tipped leaflets arranged like the fingers of an outstretched hand.  Each leaflet can be 30cm long, making for impressively large leaves.

The leaf margins are toothed, and each leaflet has clear alternate lateral veins.  They’re a rich green colour.  For more on leaf margins click here.  For a blog on compound vs simple leaves click this link, and tips on leaf shape can be found here.

Identification: Flowers

The flowers of the Horse chestnut grow in a clustered tower of up to 50 flowers, known as a panicle.  These are sometimes referred to as candles.  Branches of the panicle are longer at the base than the top, creating a cone shape.  The uppermost flowers are male, those in the middle are both sexes, and the lowest ones are all female.

 They have a distinctive shape with bilateral symmetry.  Each flower is 9-11mmm long and has 5 fringed white petals, with a yellow patch at the base.  Once pollinated, this turns from yellow to dark pink.  This may communicate to visiting insects that the flower is no longer worth visiting as it has ceased providing nectar post fertilization.

Identification: Fruit

Horse chestnut seeds are known as conkers.  Only 5 or so flowers per panicle develop into conkers.

The conker is instantly recognizable.  Encased in a pale yellow-green, spiked case; conkers are a shiny mahogany brown.  This type of seed is known as a capsule by botanists.  (For more on seed types, check out my blog.)

There are 1-3 conkers per fruit, released when the seed case splits three ways at maturity.  Each is up to 4cm across, with the entire fruit measuring up to 7cm

Identification: Bark and buds

The bark is pinkish-grey and thin in young trees, becoming grey-brown and scaly with age.

Buds are distinctive and grow on stout hairless twigs.  They are a rich reddish brown, oval, and very sticky.  Lateral buds are opposite.

When the leaves shed, they leave a distinctive horseshoe-shaped scar.  This could be the source of the tree’s name; although some suggest it relates to the curative flour, made from ground up conkers, that used to be fed to horses.

Similar species

The Indian Horse chestnut, Aesculus indica, native to the Himalayas, is the only similar species.  Like the Horse chestnut, it is planted in parks and public spaces.

However, it follows in June rather than April to May and is a less robust tree.  Indian Horse chestnut conkers are small, dark brown and wrinkled, and held in smooth green seed cases.

History: Folklore

Because the tree was introduced to the UK comparatively recently, there’s not a great deal of folk lore associated with it.

However, the conkers are threaded onto strings and used to play – wait for it – conkers.  The first recorded game occurred in 1848 on the Isle of Wight, although there’s evidence the game was played with other less suitable nuts prior to this.

 To play, you take it in turns to whack your opponent’s conker with your own, the aim being to smash your opponent’s conker to bits.  Baking, pickling in vinegar, and drying for a year or more are all methods thought to toughen up a prize conker.  To this day, kids in the UK play conkers every year (although some well-meaning schools have banned the practice because it’s deemed dangerous).

One foot note is that some think keeping conkers in a room discourages spiders.  My studio has an open box of conkers and a plethora of friendly spiders, so I remain unconvinced.

History: Mankind and Horse chestnut wood

The wood of the Horse chestnut is pale and light.  It is weak and is mainly used to make children’s toys and for carving.  As it’s absorbent, it is also used to make trays for storing fruit, and it was sometimes used to make light weight artificial limbs.

History: Food and Medicine

Conkers were ground up into flour in Victorian times, and used as a coffee substitute during World War 2.  The mildly poisonous nature of the fruit, and its limited appeal has made this practice obsolete.

Flower buds can be used as a substitute for hops in beer brewing

Medicinally, conkers were fed to cattle and horses by Turkish soldiers in the 1600s to cure respiratory disorders.

Varicose veins, haemorrhoids, sprains and bruising can all be treated with Horse chestnut creams which thin the blood.  This makes it harder for blood to leak from veins and capillaries, and is useful in the treatment of water retention and oedema.  Aescin seems to be the active compound at work here, both for animal and human ailments.

Finally, the high levels of saponin made them good for making soap, after crushing and soaking the conkers in boiling water.  They are considered useful as moth deterrents by some.

Horse chestnut and Wildlife

The profusion of flowers provide a welcome treat to pollinating bees in late spring, and the caterpillars of the Triangle moth Trigonodes hyppasia feed on the leaves.

The larva of the Horse chestnut leaf mining moth Cameraria ohridella also feed on the leaves, the caterpillars are part of the diet of birds like the Bluetit.

Threats

Two pests and diseases have taken a firm hold of the Horse chestnut population recently.

The first is the Horse chestnut leaf miner mentioned above.  This insect burrows through the leaves, eating as it goes.  It can make entire trees look ill with blotched, yellowing leaves.  The good news is that there’s little evidence that the caterpillars do any lasting damage, merely altering the appearance of the tree.

The second is Horse chestnut bleeding canker, a more serious threat.  This bacterial infection damages the wood and bark, blocking the tubes of the phloem, making it impossible for the tree to carry water and nutrients.  This eventually kills the tree.

Signs of the canker include oozing dark patches on the trunk, discolouration of the wood, and chunks of bark peeling away.  This canker is becoming more common since it was first noted in the 1970s, and now infects more than 30% of English Horse chestnuts.

Trees also suffer leaf blotching caused by the Guignardia fungus, and are prone to scale insect infestations.

Conclusion

With their beautiful candles of flowers and ornamental stature, Horse chestnuts are handsome trees.  Although of limited practical or culinary use, they are vital to parkland and gardens.  One can but hope that the threats posed by canker and pests don’t end up reducing the population of these trees too seriously.

Online sources for this blog include websites of the Woodland trust, Trees for life, Totally wild, the Tree guide UK, 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: Horse chestnut Aesculus hippocastanum appeared first on Lizzie Harper.

Scots pine 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 Hawthorn, the Birch, the Lime, and the Beech.

The Scots pine is one of only three native UK conifers, along with the Yew and the Juniper.  It grows wild in heathland and in the Caledonian pine forests of the Scottish Highlands, although only 1% of these remain.  About 7000 years ago it was the commonest tree in Britain but suffered when the climate got wetter and warmer and then again when it was cleared for grazing.  Instantly recognizable, it is used for timber and provides a haven for birds, insects, and mammals.

Scots pine Pinus sylvestris tree

Identification: Tree shape

Scots pine grow to 35m tall and have a domed or flattened top and can live for 700 years.  They shed their lower branches as they grow, leaving distinctive broken limbs below the main crown.

Scots pine Pinus sylvestris tree growth progression

These trees grow in poor soils from sea level to 2,400m and were briefly extinct south of Scotland in the 1600s before being re-introduced to parkland and heaths.

Identification: Leaves

Scots pine have slightly twisted paired needles.  These are a grey green and grow to 10cm in young trees.  As the tree ages, the needles grow to shorter lengths, in the region of 3 to 7cm long.  They are evergreen, and linear.

Sprig of Scots pine

Identification: Flowers

The flowers of Scots pine are monoecious, meaning male and females are borne on the same tree.  The female flowers grow on higher more exposed branches where they can catch the male pollen, carried by wind.  They are reddish purple and grow on the tips on new shoots, looking like tiny pine cones.

Scots pine female flower (strobilus)

The male flowers are clusters of yellow pollen-producing anthers, growing at the base of the shoot.

Scots pine male flowers

Scots pine tend to flower in May, filling the air with clouds of pollen.

Identification: Fruit

The fruit of the Scots pine is a cone.  These develop from the fertilized female flowers and start off as green.  The cones take two years to mature and are 3 to 6cm long.  A Scots pine will bear cones of different ages simultaneously – young green ones and larger older grey ones.  Mature woody cones have a raised bump at the centre of each cone scale.  Within the cones are the seeds, and once mature the cone scales open to release the winged seeds.

Mature cone

Identification: Bark and buds

The bark of the Scots pine is reddish but becomes fissured and darkens to near black with age.  This explains why the tree looks like its tree trunk is two coloured, rusty red at the top and black at ground level.

Twigs are hairless and green, and the plant has sticky buds borne on the tips of yellowish twigs.

Similar species

There are other pines grown in Britain, many in forestry plantations rather than in the Caledonian forests or on heathland.  The bi colour of the bark makes the Scots pine distinctive.  The other native evergreens, the Yew and juniper, are very different from the Scots pine.  The former has glossy dark green needles and a flaky brown bark and the juniper has needle-like leaves and grows low to the ground.  They bear soft red and dark purple berries respectively, rather than woody cones.

Juniper Juniperus communis

History: Folklore

The Scots pine has been voted the national tree of Scotland and figures on coats of arms and clan motifs.  Clan chiefs would be buried under Scots pine trees and in the Norse countries, great warriors were buried on land in boats made from pine wood.

History: Mankind and Scots Pine wood

Scots pine were planted near isolated farms in the north as wind breaks, and stands of them were planted to help travellers with navigation on bleak moors and heaths.

The wood is a strong softwood and is used in the construction industry, and to make telegraph poles, gates, fenceposts and pit props in mines.  It has also been a source of charcoal.

Jackdaw on ancient Scots pine fence post

Rope can be made from the inner bark, tar derived from the roots, and a dye from the pine cones.  The cones were also dried and used for kindling.  Finally, turpentine can be made by tapping the tree for resin.

History: Food and Medicine

Although pine needles are edible, they are pretty tough and better used for flavouring.  Some evidence suggests that they can induce miscarriage, so shouldn’t be eaten by pregnant women.  They can flavour sugar, syrups and alcohol.  Steaming vegetables over water full of pine needles can give a piquant flavour, and they can be made into teas.

Cones and needles

Scots pine needles are rich in vitamin C and can be nibbled to quench thirst, or drunk in teas to fight asthma and fatigue.

There are unsubstantiated claims that pine pollen helps prevent aging.  Liniments of pine are used on sore joints, diluted pine oil can banish head-lice, and pine tar can help treat skin problems.  The scent of pine helps clear blocked noses and is good for respiratory problems.

Scots pine and Wildlife

In the Caledonian forests, rare birds like the Capercaille live along with Scottish wildcats and plants like the Lesser twayblade.  The forest floor is home to ants including the Scottish wood ant.

Worker ant Formica aquilonia Scottish wood ant

Red squirrels chase each other around their trunks and Pine martens chase the red squirrels.

Pine marten Martes martes

Flocks of Crossbill and small passerines feed there.  Golden eagles and Osprey nest in the crowns of the trees.  They provide vital shelter for so much wildlife, as seen in this blog from Loch of the Lowes.

Threats

Various diseases like Heterobasidion annosum affect the Scots pine causing root rot and butt rot. Pine stem rust, red-band needle blight, and needle cast disease also occur.  The trees suffer attacks from the pine wood nematode which causes pine wilt and Fusarium circinaum, a disease that leads to tree canker.  Some of these pathogens are recent arrivals and pose real threats to the trees, although the University of Nebraska suggests pine wilt can be prevented by injecting healthy trees with abamectin or emamectin benzoate.   For more on the threats to Scots pine, check out the article in The Guardian newspaper.

Canker (in this case on a rose not on a Scots pine)

A potential threat in future years is the Pine processionary moth Thaumetopoea pityocampa whose range is expanding northward due to global warming.

They may also be defoliated by the Pine tree lappet moth Dendropinus pini.  Migrating north from the European mainland, a breeding colony was detected in Scotland in 2009 and containment regulations are in place to try and contain its spread (Scottish Forestry).

Conclusion

The Scots pine is an easy recognised native conifer.  Despite challenges facing the tree, mainly caused by invasive species moving northwards thanks to global warming, for now it is common on uplands, heathland, and in forestry.  Providing timber and protection for wildlife, it is to be hoped that it will continue to thrive for centuries to come.

Long-tailed, Blue, Coal and Great tit in a Scots pine

Online sources for this blog include websites of the Woodland trust, Kew Plants of the World , Trees for life,  Tree guide UK, 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: Scots pine Pinus sylvestris appeared first on Lizzie Harper.

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 Hawthorn, the Birch and the Beech.

There are 10 species of Lime in the UK, with three growing commonly in the wild.  Along with the Small-leaved Lime Tilia cordata, the focus of this blog; there is the Common lime Tilia x europea and the Large-leaved (or Broad-leaved) lime Tilia platyphyllos.   Lime trees are often called Linden trees, a catch all for all Tilia  species.

It’s important to remember that these lime trees have nothing to do with the citrus family’s lime tree which bears the lime fruit, Citrus x Latifolia

Identification: Tree shape

The Small-leaved lime reaches up to 20m and has a pretty conventional shape.  They grow in ancient woodland, favouring moist nutrient-rich soils, although Large-leaved limes prefer lime-rich areas.

Lime Tilia cordata tree

Identification: Leaves

Leaves are 3-8cm long and shaped like a heart (as noted in the Latin name, cordata, which means heart-shaped).  They have sharp small teeth and a prominent tip.  Sometimes they are wider than their length.

Leaf of Small-leaved lime

Where the leaf stem or petiole attaches to the twig there are tufts of rust-red hairs.  These also appear on the underside of the leaf, at the junctions of the veins.

Identification: Flowers

The flowers smell delicious and are carried in clusters of five to ten blooms.  They have five petals, are a greenish yellow, and carry male and female reproductive structures.

Lime flower

Unlike other Lime trees, the flowers stick out from the leaf-like bract they’re attached to at all angles.  Other species have more pendulous blossoms.

Flowering cyme of the Small-leaved lime Tilia cordata

Identification: Fruit

Small-leaved lime fruit ripen in August and are small and round.  They have prominent tips.

Identification: Bark and buds

Small-leaved lime bark starts smooth but develops fissured plates with age.  The twigs are chestnut brown, and become glossy in the sunshine.  The underside of the twigs is often flushed olive green.

Bark of the Common lime Tilia x europea

Buds are up to 4mm long, have two scales. and are shiny red.

Similar species

The two other common UK Lime species are the Large-leaved and Common lime.  The Large-leaved lime has bigger leaves which grow to 13cm long and have more regular teeth.  Hairs cover the underside of each leaf.  Large-leaved lime carry flowers in clusters of three to a maximum of six, and the fruits are prominently ribbed.

Large-leaved lime Tilia platyphyllos

Common lime is a hybrid of the other two species so shows mixed characteristics.  It also has heart-shaped leaves which are larger than those of the Small-leaved lime.  The hair tufts on the underside of the leaves are white, not red.  When in bud, Common lime twigs zig-zag and bear a bud at each change of direction.

History: Folklore

In Eastern Europe, the Lime is a symbol of fertility and is considered sacred in Slavic culture.  It has links to the Germanic and Norse earth goddesses Frigga and Freyya.  Germanic cultures in ancient times used the tree as a symbol of justice, with trials taking place beneath its boughs. Tthe Swiss and French planted Lime trees to celebrate battles.  In Britain Lime trees were planted along roads to encourage prosperous harvests of grain.

Linden tree

The tree is also associated with love and romance.

History: Mankind and Linden wood

Lime wood does not warp if cured correctly so is used to make bowls, furniture, and piano keys.  It is soft and light and easy to work.  Grinling Gibbons (1648-1721) carved his ornate alter pieces and panels from lime wood as it cuts cleanly and easily, and traditional nesting Matroshka dolls were carved from Lime.

The inner layer of the bark is fibrous and was used by Europeans and First Nations’ peoples to make rope, fishing nets, and string until Hemp was introduced from China in 400BC.

History: Food and Medicine

The flowers of the Lime tree are dried and made into fragrant herbal teas whilst the sap can be made into wine.

Medicinally, the teas or tissanes made from Lime were used to treat “nervous disorders”.  These included headaches and insomnia.  The tea is said to soothe diarrhoea and sinusitis as well as being used to calm jangled nerves and reduce blood pressure and cholesterol. It was said that sitting under a Lime tree could mitigate epilepsy.

Small-leaved lime

Applied to the skin, it can soothe skin conditions.

Lime trees and Wildlife

The blossoms of the lime tree attract pollinators, and in America Lime tree species are sometimes called “bee trees”.  Linden blossom honey is delicious.  Along with the bees and butterflies, wasps, and hoverflies, the trees also attract vast numbers of aphids and their “farmers”, ants.  All lime trees tend to be coated in honeydew produced by the aphids which makes the leaves sticky and may cover the ground below the tree.  The aphids attract predators such as hoverflies and ladybirds.

Ladybird Coccinella septempuctata

Nail galls are common on the Small-leaved lime and look like tiny scarlet fingers growing from the leaf surface.  They are the product of the Eriophyes tiliae mite which feed inside them, and seem to do no damage to the tree.

Lime Tilia europaea leaf nail galls from mite Eriophyes tiliae

Moths such as the Lime hawkmoth, Peppered moth, Vapourer and Scarce hook-tip use the Lime as a food plant whilst birds and wood boring beetles exploit the dead wood of older trees to make their homes.

Threats

Ancient woodland is a rare habitat in the UK, although it used to cover much of the land.  In 3000BC the Small-leaved lime was the most common broad-leaved tree in the UK.  Ancient woodland is where most Small-leaved limes grow, so the threats to this habitat are mirrored in the threats to the trees.

Some fungal infections can cause cankers and root rot, and occasionally a Lime tree may die from Wilt.

Aphids and some mites weaken the tree, but there are no new fatal diseases wiping out all our Lime trees.

Conclusion

With the scented flowers and heart shaped leaves, Limes are easy to recognize.  They make safe homes for many insects and are a firm favourite with pollinators.  With strong pale wood and a plethora of uses in herbal medicine, the tree has been used by mankind for millennia.  And luckily, despite the loss of ancient broad-leaved woodland, the Lime or Linden looks set to remain an important tree of the British Isles for many years to come.

Small-leaved lime Tilia cordata

Online sources for this blog include websites of the Woodland trust, Kew Plants of the World, Tree guide UK, and Nature Spot. 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: Small-leaved lime or Linden appeared first on Lizzie Harper.

Varieties of Potato

There are hundreds of different potato cultivars.  Some bear potatoes early in the year, others not until autumn.  Some are short and bushy plants, others stand tall with far fewer leaves.  The potatoes themselves vary in colour of flesh and skin, in size, in texture.  Flowers of the potato plant are equally variable in colour, with the added complication of fading with age.  As a mere amateur, I’m not going to try and untangle or name-check different potato cultivars.  This blog is a basic overview of the humble potato plant.

Potato variety

Solanaceae: The potato’s family

The Solanaceae family consists of 102 genera and a slew of economically important plants.  Now grown across the world, Solanaceae food crops include the Capsicum or pepper family; tomatoes Solanum lycopersicum; aubergines Solanum melongena, and potatoes Solanum tuberosum.  Economically enormous, tobacco Nicotiana tabacum is a member of the Solanaceae.

Many of our ornamental garden plants belong to this family too; Petunia, Datura, Brugmansia and Lycium spring to mind.

So too do some highly toxic plants including Deadly nightshade Atropa belladonna, Henbane Hyoscyamus niger, and Bittersweet Solanum dulcamara.  Some of these are used to make sedatives, stimulants, and antispasmodics.

Bittersweet Solanum dulcamara

Solanaceae, Potatoes, and poison

This toxicity isn’t limited to the Nightshades.  It’s easily forgotten that the potato becomes toxic when it becomes green or sprouts.  The toxicity comes from the alkaloid alpha-solanine which the tuber produces.  According to Wikipedia, solanine poisoning causes, “nausea, diarrhea, vomiting, stomach cramps, burning of the throat, cardiac dysrhythmia, nightmares, headache, dizziness, itching, eczema, thyroid problems, and inflammation and pain in the joints.”

Toxic effects from plants like Deadly nightshade include dilated pupils, laboured breathing, and renal failure; in livestock as well as humans.  Still, this notoriously never stopped ladies of the Italian court from putting drops of Belladonna in their eyes to dilate the pupils, thus making them seem more lustful and attractive.  And even today, optician’s eyedrops contain deadly nightshade. (For more on this, look at Healthline’s article).

Deadly nightshade Atropa belladonna

However, there’s no reason to be poisoned by nightshades or potatoes, just be aware that the family has a dark side.

Potato Plant: Growing a potato plant

Potato plants grown up to 1m tall, and although they can grow from seed it’s commoner to have them sprouting from sprouting (or “chitting”) potatoes.

This is easy to achieve.  Either forget about your potatoes in the back of a cupboard, or intentionally leave some in the light.  They are likely to sprout.  Generally, there’s one main sprout at the far or bud end of the tuber.  Other sprouts may be present, as may lateral leaf scales.  You may prefer to buy seed potatoes.  Place each potato, “eyes” up, in an egg box and keep them somewhere cool and light.  If you’re using a sprouting potato, cut your potato and let each bit with a sprout on grow.  Once the sprouts are about 2cm long, they can be planted out in the ground.  The RHS has more on this, as does Grower Expert.

Chitted potatoes

Sprouts may be greenish, pink, white or purplish.  They produce little rootlets at their base, which is how the plants start growing.

Potato Leaves

Leaves of the potato are paired leaflets, borne either side of a stem.  This arrangement is known as “irregularly pinnate”.  There’s one terminal leaflet present.  There are also secondary and sometimes tertiary leaflets running along the midrib edge.  These grow irregularly.  Leaves tend to be slightly hairy and a dark green, although there is variation between cultivars.

Potato leaf

The potato leaf is attached to the stem with a petiole.

Potato stems

Hollow between branches, the stem is ridged.  Often wings will grow along its edges.  These can be straight or wavy, depending on what potato you’re growing

Generally, potato plant stems are a fresh pale green; in some cultivars this may be flushed red, especially toward the flowers.

Potato stem

Potato flowers

There’s a lot of colour variety between different potato flowers.  Some are white, some purple, some mauve or pink.  Colours can change if the flowers fade over time.  All have 5 petals, and 5 golden anthers formed into a central cone.

White Potato flower

Depending on type, the flowers appear May through August.  Being self-pollinators, there’s no need for the plant to attract bees, butterflies or other pollinators.  The pollen is released from the anther and either travels down the stigma of that same flower, or of a neighbouring bloom.

Cross section of flower

The flowering stem, or peduncle, has an abscission ring.  This lets the flower break off easily at maturity.  Peduncles may be coloured in reds and purples, or speckled with crimson; and if not then the scar left from the abscission is often coloured.  This can help in identifying what potato cultivar you’re growing.

Purple potato flowers

Potato fruit

Yes, potatoes produce fruit.  These look a lot like green tomatoes, both as berries and in cross section.  However, they are green, becoming black when ripe.  And are poisonous.

Potato fruit

Potato tuber and roots

The tuber is the part of the potato that we eat.  It grows underground, on the end of of subterranean stems which bear these tubers.  The last joint of the underground stem will swell and thicken, and turn into our potato. They continue to swell with age, so older potatoes tend to be larger than little “new” potatoes.  There are roots present too.  Normal branched, fibrous roots provide water and nutrients and grow as deep as 140cm (Acta Agriculturae Scandinavicae Vol 65).  Rhizomes (or stolons) grow just below the surface, putting out scale-like leaves and growing adventitiously.  For more on root variety, check out my blog.

Potato roots

The tubers have a stem end, where they join to the underground stem, and a bud end, which is distal to the stem junction.  It’s at this far end that you find the potato eyes.  these are actually little dents from which new potato plants can sprout and grow.  The birth places of the sprouts we mentioned before.  Often they have ridges above them, which are known as “eyebrows”.

Potato with green sprout (eye) and eyebrow above

The skin colour can be white, like a Maris piper, or a deep pink, like a Rooster potato.  Some heritage cultivars are a deep purple.  Flesh colour varies too, depending on what type you’re growing, as does colour of sprout and the texture of the tuber.  However, when exposed to light, all potato tubers will go green!

Harvesting potatoes

If you’re growing potatoes at home, a good rule of thumb is to harvest your potatoes when the lower leaves begin to yellow and become limp.  This takes between 70 and 120 days.  There are few gardening jobs more enjoyable than digging up potatoes, and shaking the tubers free of the roots.

Eating Potatoes!

So once you’ve learned about your potato plant, and perhaps taken a harvest, you’ll want to know what to do with the tubers.

The options are as varied as the potato types available.  You can mash them.  Boil them.  Roast them.  Bake them and serve with grated cheese or baked beans.  Cut them into french fries (chips) and serve with them with vinegar, mayo, or ketchup.  Hack them into wedges and roast them.  Thinly slice them and layer them to make an elegant dauphinoise.  Ambitious folk may want to cut them excceding thin and fry them into crisps (chips in you’re in the US).

Potatoes care eaten in any number of forms!

Alternatively, leave some exposed to the light, to sprout.  And start the whole cycle again.

More on Potatoes

There are endless rabbit holes down which you can plunge when it comes to researching potatoes.  From the horrors of the Irish Potato famine which is thought to have killed over a hundred thousand (and which was caused by the potato blight Phytopthera infestens and appalling British governance), to the perils caused by the Colorado Potato beetle Leptinotarsa decemlineata (a notifiable pest here in the UK), and the first recorded cultivation of the potato in Peru over 8,000 years ago.

We’ve lived with the humble potato a mighty long time, and I relish having this opportunity to look a little closer at such an important plant.

The post Potatoes appeared first on Lizzie Harper.

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.