More Wakehurst

This is one of the places in the garden where I often have my lunch, with George (below) who often stops in for handouts.

Occasionaly George's wife stops in as well, although she is a little shy; and I think a bit brighter than George.

Catharine and Bea, both forgein visitors, Bea is from Spain and Catharine is from Scotland. I wonder what she is doing at the seed bank since all they have in Scotland is heather.

Chloe is from France, and has helped me with some of my experiments. Here she is preparing lunch for everyone by cooking quail eggs in the water bath.

Meet Tom, above on a good day and below on a bad day. Tom, does great impressions of Americans and terrible ones of Canadians. Tom, Catharine and Cloe are what they call here gap students. They take a year out of their studies and work to get expereince; this is paid work (unlike me, I work free). They finish their contracts in late August.

Another lunch spot below, the old stable building with Wisteria sinensis and Wisteria chinensis in bloom.

The bluebells (Hyacinthoides non-scriptus) in the arboretum at Wakehurst.

The English Robin.

Sissinghurst, The Castle Garden.



On May 7, a holiday Monday a group of us working at the MSB Seed Bank decided to visit the National Trust Garden of Sissinghurst, a garden I have visited many times before but never tire of. The delegation from MSB included Chris a Norwegian, Anne from Australia and Hannay from Mexico. If Dale or Jane are reading this we stopped in to see your dad and Patsy on the way home; they were gracious and gave us tea and great shortbread biscuits. Of course in concern for your fathers health I ate several.

The cottage garden at Sissinghurst is famous for its vibrant colours, I think this is a spin off from nearby Great Dixter, where the late Christopher Lloyd spun his magic.

It was still early for Sissinghurst, and I was a little dissapointed for I saw no new ideas and little imagination in the plantings since my last visit. The garden I felt, was too meticulous and of course the plant signage was out of date and in several places incorrect. It was as if the garden was in a time warp.

One of the great parts of the garden is the tower, which Vita Sackville-West had her study in. You can climb it as we did and get a great overview of the garden.

Chris, the Norwegian, cannot get the viking spirit out of his blood as he tries to plunder the gardens (the urn contains the ashes of Vita). He of course is forgetting the weight restrictions on the plane home. Norway no longer has longboats.

The most famous garden room at Sissinghurst, the white garden; a bit dull at this time of year.

A view from the tower,towards the main entrance of the garden.

For more information on Sissinghurst visit the National Trust link below:

http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main/w-vh/w-visits/w-findaplace/w-sissinghurstcastlegarden/

Castle Hill and the hunt for the Early Spider Orchid.

On Monday April 30 several of us led by the intrpid Dr. Peter Scott set off in search for the elusive Early Spider Orchid. We were told to prepare; packed lunches, rain gear and hats as we were to penetrate into the darkest, untouched reaches of the South Downs in search of this botanical enigma.

Dr. Scott, obviosuly used to this type of activity marches ahead of the group risking the perils of the nearby wooly pigs. Two of which we did encounter and where my farming background saved the day as we hearded them back into the field; they were young ones for if they were adults I fear we would have all perished.

The picture above gives a true indication of our chances of finding this elusive orchid, miles upon miles of vegetaion lay before us; in it we hoped was the Early Spider Orchid.

Up and down hill we went following the intrepid Dr. Scott, all to no avail, they were supposed to be on this hill, but obviously not. I felt like one of the polar explorers, who would never reach the pole. This was the culmination of our course on Restoration Ecology. This great day was on the agenda, for months, we planned the expedition with meticulous care and we were not going to be dissapointed, I would see to that.

Low and behold, there it was, this three inch orchid, cowering in the grass, I had finally achived one of the nirvana's of botanical exploration and found Ophrys speghodes.

Of course several days later, when out for a casual jaunt I found the much more coveted and as yet unamed orchid pictured below.

In journalistic fairness I suggest you read the Universities version of the days events, visit the MSc website and look under the blog link.

http://www.lifesci.sussex.ac.uk/gradstudies/pc/Plant%20Conservation%20MSc/Home.html

Alfriston Village

On a Sunday bike ride to the village of Alfriston we climbed the hill out of the Cuckmere Valley.


The area around Alfriston has been occupied from neolithic times as a number of barrows from this period have been found higher up the surrounding Downs . Alfriston originally known as Aelfrictun the 'town of Alfric' in Saxon times, was recorded in the Domesday Book as Alvriceston and had a range of other names including Alvericheston and Aveston. It lies in the Cuckmere valley just off the main A27 Eastbourne to Lewes road. The village was settled long before the Norman invasion of 1066, as the mound that the church lies on was an old Saxon burial ground. St Lewinna a Saxon virgin Christian was killed by the Saxons in 690AD and her body was kept at the church, her relics were attributed to a number of miracles. They were stolen by a monk from Belgium and transported to the Priory of Bergue St Winox in 1058 (even they had problems with the French). The majority of the church of St Andrews was built in the 1300's and is known as The Cathedral of the Downs. The rectory was built in the 14th century and is of wattle and daub construction. This building is now owned by the National Trust, and is open to the public.

You may have noticed a church theme through this blog, they are horticulturally some of the remaining cultivated grounds around. Planting patterns and plant choices can be seen, where native plants were introuduced and spread throughout the tombs.

The rectory building below.