Drunken painted ladies

20 August

For a few weeks butterflies have been gorging themselves on the honey scented flowers of the buddleia. At times we are ‘forced’ to work close to these bushes and the butterflies, bees and myriad other insects pay little, or no attention to our presence.



Most buddleias originate in China and the Himalayas, I suspect from their propensity to spread easily they are rampant in their native or an unchecked environment.

The butterflies in particular seem to be virtually punch drunk on the nectar. The scent is rather sickly or buttery and smells very much like honey and the insects move slowly as if stoned out of their brains.

An advantage to their lethargic state is the opportunity they present for close observation. Painted Ladies, Tortoiseshells and Red Admiral pose with their proboscis waving slowly as they stagger along the purple flowers. When they close their wings the undersides are dark and mysterious.

Gardening isn’t always a chore. I wonder if we inhaled enough of the scent we would become intoxicated?

Lilies from scales

25 August



Raising new plants from scales is a fascinating way to increase your lilies. You may already have lilies in your garden that you can use, you do not even have to dig up the bulb !!

Remove a few outer scales from the lily bulb, snapping them off. No need to lift the bulb in the garden, simply skim away a little soil.

Dust the scales with a fungicide powder to reduce the risk of the scales rotting. Put them in a plastic bag and shake about...do the hokey cokey...hmmm

Mix equal parts damp peat and grit, or use perlite or vermiculite for rooting. Partly fill a poly bag with  the rooting medium and add the scales.

Inflate the bag slightly and secure the top with a tie. Do the hokey cokey again then place the bag in an airing cupboard.

When bulblets appear at the base of the scales, should take a month or so, pot them up in a good potting compost and step back to watch them grow.

Easy huh? In truth it is quite easy to propogate most plants and shrubs, so save yourself a few quid and have a go.

Super grass seed

26 August

Even during the fiercely dry weather we have been seeding up new lawns. In every case we have had resounding success and within a few weeks of seeding the grass has been ready to cut.

Usually we strim small patches initially to avoid trampling the soil, however this isn’t practicable on large areas so we put on one of our lighter mowers after a couple days without rain. The effect of lush green grass instead of rubbish or rocky ground is stunning.

On one job at Hawkshead we cut down and winched out a very large rhodie. The soil was poor and very stony so we removed as much as we could and ordered in a few tons of topsoil, mixed in the grass seed with the soil and spread it to a depth of about 2 inches.

We raked over the surface and left it. This coincided with the beginning of the very long dry weather and we worried that the seed would germinate and then wither in the blistering heat. To minimise this happening we simply left the soil dry and crossed our fingers.



Within a week a few shoots sprung up but little else, gradually a few weeds began to reappear whilst the rest of the grass was slow to show. We pulled out many of the weeds and realised that the grass seed hadn’t germinated because it clearly hadn’t received enough moisture. Fingers were crossed once more that the barren conditions would abate. The client was worrying too.

Then it rained and within 2 weeks the lawn was there. Now it is a fantastic swathe of brilliant green sweeping down to the river bank.

I love to take off my boots and walk barefoot on the lawns.