25th September 2014

Weather: A few days ago it still felt like late summer, but it is now definitely starting to feel autumn cold, especially in the mornings and in the evenings. In the middle of the day it is still very mild.

Team: Formal. Location: Conifer Lawn, Thompson Memorial, Gravel Garden.

I worked with Billy again today. First we gave the crown of a Corylus avellana 'Aurea' a lift by taking out some of the bottom branches out, mainly with a pole saw. These were smothering other shrubs nearby, so it was good to give these more room and light. We were careful to retain the fringe effect of the hazel. It also opened up more space for potential planting & interest. We chopped up the sawn branches into manageable pieces and loaded it onto a tractor & trailer.

Then we meticulously chased strands of bindweed that Billy had spied coming out of a Hypericum bush, including almost digging a it out and replanting it just to get to every little bit.

Billy with pole saw cutting down the Corylus avellana 'Aurea'. 

Then we went back over an area we had been digging up on the 23rd September, where we had lifted some Hypericum's beanii because of a bindweed infestation. This area had already been dug over three times, so we were giving it one last dig over. There was still quite a bit of bindweed (Calystegia sepium) to be found. A new weed that I learnt and came across was Duchesnia indica - an edible dry strawberry like fruit, which North American Indians called 'famine food' as it's not much to taste. Billy also showed me another interesting edible - Toona sinensis 'Flamingo', the Chinese eat the leaves and the best time for it is early summer.

An interesting caterpillar that I found underneath the Corylus Avellana 'Aurea' but haven't identified yet.

Then I helped Billy plant out some Primula sonchifolia in the Thompson Memorial, a water feature that has a small running stream, and extracting some Rosebay Willowherb and Cardamine hirsuta (Hairy Bittercress) whilst I was at it. It is a Primula that likes running water and is found in the mountains in Yunnan. After we went to Propagation to get some plants and I did a planting of Adenophora tashiroi in the gravel garden - a purple bell like flowered plant that looks like a Campanula and is part of the Campanulaceae family.

Planting of Adenophora tashiroi in the Gravel Garden.