Posted in Garden visits, Trees, Uncategorized, tagged Dyffryn Gardens, Gardening, oak, Trees on November 27, 2015| 18 Comments »
The Lucombe oak at Dyffryn Gardens, Vale of Glamorgan, in January 2015
In May last year I blogged about some magnificent turkey oaks, Quercus cerris, in Llandaff Fields, Cardiff. You can read the post here.
Well if I thought that was a quirky Quercus, I have now seen one that is even more unusual – the so-called Lucombe oak, Quercus x hispanica ‘Lucombeana’. I first spotted it in January at the National Trust’s Dyffryn Gardens in the Vale of Glamorgan. (more…)
Posted in Garden visits, Gardening, Glamorgan, Uncategorized, Wales, tagged Dyffryn Gardens, Gardening on November 20, 2015| 11 Comments »
Bright leaves of a rockery plant at Dyffryn Gardens in September
That headline will mean nothing to you unless you are familiar with The Dubliners’ Rocky Road to Dublin song, but hey-ho…
In September we visited the National Trust’s Dyffryn Gardens again. This time I was mainly going to look at some absolutely splendid old trees I hope to blog about soon, but I was also sidetracked by the rockery area you can see from the house. So here are my pictures – and I am sorry there are quite a few flowers I haven’t identified yet. (more…)
Posted in Dorset, England, Uncategorized, tagged dorset, Poole on November 14, 2015| 19 Comments »
Shiny elephants in the window of a Thai restaurant in Poole High Street
I am still catching up with my travels in September so I hope you will bear with me as I share some images of my favourite place – Poole in Dorset. I have been there so many times that I have already taken pictures of the main landmarks (see the links at the end of the post) – but this time I was snapping anything I fancied as we walked through the colourful back streets. (more…)
Posted in Nature, Trees, tagged autumn, Nature, Trees on November 7, 2015| 32 Comments »
Beech tree (Fagus sylvatica) beside the river Taff in Cardiff
Welcome to my first attempt to provide a monthly tree-following link box after taking over the project from Loose and Leafy. The box is now closed but you’ll find everyone’s links at the bottom of the post.
It’s a mixed time of year for the trees here in the UK in the Autumn (or Fall to those of you in North America). Some have lost nearly all their leaves. Some, like the lindens, cast off their lemon-yellow leaves early. Some, like the wonderful maples, are a beautiful red. Some trees still have their seeds attached…
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Posted in Cardiff, Nature, Trees, Uncategorized, tagged autumn, Bute, Cardiff, Paulownia, Trees on November 5, 2015| 9 Comments »
Next year’s flower buds are already developing
I feel the year’s end drawing near for my empress tree (Paulownia tomentosa) in Cardiff’s Bute Park. I know some tree followers track progress from March to March, but I tend to follow through a calendar year and then do a recap in January before choosing a new tree.
By the way, sadly Lucy at Loose and Leafy is calling time on hosting the tree-following meme for us all, but the good news is that she is passing it on to me to host, so hopefully I will do it justice!
I have set up a page with all the general tree-following information and links, here. I hope to publish a link box for all the tree followers on the 7th of each month and leave it open for a week – so see you Saturday. For now, though, here is my own monthly tree-following post. (more…)
The Squirrelbasket 