Scorchio

So, as promised here is how the new path by the Watcher looks, a Pretty significant improvement and its settling down nicely.

 

I've been on my own for a couple of week now, Guy Lory, my boss is on holiday and the day to day running has been in my hands. I was half expecting the garden to be completely upside down and on fire by the second day, fortunately things have been going smoothly with 1 more week to go.

 

The focus has been on trying to keep the regular jobs getting done, but I've taken the opportunity to try and get some interpretation in place. Putting up one of our a-frames and choosing a couple "plants of the week", it was a pretty easy decision mind you! Cornus kousa is well into flower now and we've been getting a lot of questions about it. I say "flower", but really what your seeing are bracts, which are modified sepals, which are the first protective leaves which emerge before the flower. The ACTUAL flower is that teeny tiny little ball in  the centre. You might think this is rare, but actually its a pretty common evolutionary development for plants. For instance, sunflowers and daisies; the classic flower shape you might think? Actually the flowers are in the centre (florets) and the outside petals are pseudanthiums, which is greek for "false flower". Anyway, C. kousa is a pretty god damned stunning plant and they really stand out in the gardens at Dudmaston. We have two types, Chinensis and Norman Haddon both of which are up in the American gardens, they are worth a visit if you've never seen one or in fact missed them on a recent visit.

 

That being said, we also have Kalmia, Digitalis, Campanula lactiflora, Cystus battandieri, Phlomis fruticosa and a whole bunch of stunning roses to be seen in the gardens right now!

Also, this heat is killing me! I went out with David Williams, a volunteer ecologist who is cataloguing some of the solitary wasp and bee species that are pretty prevalent on the grounds here at Dudmaston (owing largely to the old sandstone masonry). We had a stroll around the grounds and saw quite  a few interesting things, I learned a lot. I have to say that the best part fo the day was seeing a Kingfisher up in Comer wood though!