Thankfully I have photos of one, but not the other. You see, it’s not the best time of year for garden photos, with very little – if anything – in flower and lots of bare earth. Brown twigs against brown soil, all bathed in weak, watery sunlight makes January an inexplicably long month. It’s these winter months that I spend more time looking down into the garden from the upstairs windows. I ponder the borders, the planting in them, the gaps and wonder how it will all look at its height in early Summer.
During one of these frequent musings, a pair of pigeons walking along the ground suddenly caught my eye. We have wood pigeons, these are a slightly higher class than the rats-with-wings in the city, but only slightly. The pair were in the grass of the Crescent and were waddling along, one behind the other. Heads moving side to side looking at the borders. Its the exact thing that we do when we’re walking about the garden, including the waddling. This pair ambled under the rose arch and followed the curve of Magnolia Hill, round to the other side. There is nothing preventing these birds from simply walking over the border but no, they stuck to the grass paths as though they were touring the garden. I felt that I was somehow being personally evaluated through the garden. I was still in a state of bemused wonder at this behaviour long after they had eventually flown off, leaving me wondering what on earth could have been going through their tiny bird brains.
Now moving on to the piles. I’ve been keeping a pile of large sticks and branches since I started on the garden almost four years ago. In that pile are branches from the very first trees and shrubs that I cut down or took out in the first days after moving in (before we even had the taps fixed). There are trunks from a pear tree, ornamental cherry, huge ceanothus, viburnum, birch and buddleia. Many more trees have been planted (in more appropriate places) to undo and make up for the initial hack and slash the garden needed to bring it under control. Although we’ve thrown out, chipped, composted or burnt lots of pruning rubbish, this pile remains as I know it will come in useful someday for something, even if I’m not quite are what, just yet.
Well 2018 might be the year this wood pile finally finds a permanent place in the garden, marking the outline of the Landing Pad that was created last year from clearing the back. The Landing Pad is a raised, levelled circular area of wood chip that will eventually be surrounded by borders of ferns, azaleas, camellias and other woodland-edge plants and shrubs; so says the plan. The branches should fit in well, I’m looking forward to starting work on creating new borders, especially as none were created last year.
12 comments