Winter roses

I know that roses frequently flower late in the year, but it always amazes me to see their delicate flowers in the dark of winter. What better decoration is there for a Christmas table than a rose freshly cut from the garden?

The rose bows its head when frost comes to it, but buds sheltered from the worst of the weather will ensure there are more flowers to come before the winter festivities end.

Rosa 'Tess of the D'Urbervilles'

Rosa 'Malvern Hills'

Frosted Hebe

Today, I dug up a whole pork pie which was buried in the front garden.

'Social amoebas'

I was going to title this post “dog vomit”, as that is what many people mistake slime moulds for on their lawn, but I didn’t feel it would really attract many people to read it. Neither will ‘social amoebas’ but at least it will sound a bit more socially acceptable.

I’ve had a vague interest in slime moulds ever since I first heard about them. Neither fungus nor amoeba, they are strange organisms which defy classification. There are a range of different species, and can be found all over the world.

It is their life cycle which is particularly fascinating. They start off as individual, single celled organisms, which eat bacteria. When food starts to get scarce, individual cells/organisms come together into a large, multicellular ‘blob’, like a miniature slug and can travel around, albeit very slowly. When food disappears, the colony forms fruiting bodies, which release spores into the air to disperse. Some of the organisms sacrifice themselves to become a stalk, whilst others form the spores which will carry on future generations.

Why have I mentioned these on a gardening blog? Well, why not – they’re amazing organisms that few people know about. But, OK, there is a horticultural link. Some slime moulds do cause problems in the garden, for example club root in brassicas, and they can also cause concern to the keen lawn carer, who thinks that a dog has up-chucked on his sward.

Another talent of the slime mould is its ability to find its way through mazes via the shortest route. They have also been used to control the movement of robots (fantastic headline).

Since starting to write this post, I have discovered that the film ‘The Blob’ was inspired by a slime mould (although I hasten to add that there are no reported cases of humans being consumed by slime moulds). Also, for fans of Spinal Tap, apparently the DVD version has an outtake which involves slime moulds.

This website has some great photos. This site has even better ones.

This post has been brought to you by the Slime Mould Appreciation Society.

Smiling Sky

I meant to write about this on Monday, when it happened, but didn't manage to get round to it. If you were lucky enough to have a clear sky on the 1st december, you may have looked up and seen a wonderful phenomenon.

Photograph by Gareth Edwards, from:http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_pictures/7759643.stm

I didn't manage to get a photo, but the above photo shows it beautifully. Venus and Jupiter were in conjunction, and the cresent of the moon esclipsed Venus briefly. As I was driving home, it looked as though the moon had a tear, like the tear of a Pierrot in negative.

I wish I knew more about astronomy, but it makes my mind boggle when I start to think about the incredible distances, and even the thought that when you see a star, you're looking back into the past. Wonderful.

Arum berries

BBC Good Food Show - NEC, Birmingham: 26th to 30th November

If anyone is visiting the BBC Good Food Show over the next few days, pop along to stall number R68 (Hall 20) for some free cheese samples! If you're there on the Saturday or Sunday, come and talk to me about blogs and gardening, as I will be bored of talking about cheese and courses!

Spring, interrupted

In the midst of autumn, plants are already preparing for spring.
In the midst of a challenging economic climate, the world looks forward to a new US president.

Hiraeth

For those who haven't come across this word before, 'hiraeth' is a Welsh word and doesn't have a direct English translation. Yet, we all will have experienced it.

Although I spent the weekend in Malvern, which is where I grew up, this afternoon I still felt the pang of longing for this place. For two reasons - firstly some recent posts by Patient Gardener, who lives there and has taken some lovely photos of the Hills in their autumn clothes. And secondly when I was listening to a short radio programme about Edward Elgar this afternoon and his love for the local area. There are lots of theories about the Enigma Variations, including that the length of each was related to the size and shape of each of the hills in the range.

The hills have a fascinating geology, history and folklore - stay out of the shadow of Raggedstone Hill!

Beautiful plumage...

When it comes to great spotted woodpeckers, until today, I've always been the one who's going "WHERE? WHERE?" whilst someone else is saying "Surely you didn't miss that one".

So, imagine my surprise and delight on getting a wonderful view of a hen woodpecker this afternoon. I've been visiting my father,who is a keen photographer, in Malvern this weekend . He and my uncle have constructed a hide in a friend's small orchard. I went down to the farm with my father this afternoon, to help him top up the bird feeders before it got dark. There were a few forms darting about in the nearby branches as we filled the various seed holders up - we could hear great tits, blue tits and gold finches. We went into the hide to see if any of these small birds would come in once we'd hidden ourselves. Barely had we sat down when a gorgeous hen great spotted woodpecker landed on the peanuts, about 10 foot away. She ate her fill for around 5 minutes, occasionally chasing off cheeky blue tits who got too close to her. Then she flew away and we left.

The photo is not of her, but a juvenile male woody who got into the habit of visiting Dad in the summer, until he moved on to a more permanent territory. He's sat in a bamboo, in the back garden.