The sun is shining and the Celtic start of summer -the pagan festival of Beltane- was last weekend. It is associated with maypoles, fertility, and nature. Special fires were lit and cattle were driven across the fires on their way to summer pastures. Beltane babies are said to have often appeared 9 months after the festival and perhaps this year there will be a little hump of covid-19 babies instead. The current weather certainly seems to believe it is the start of summer and the bluebells are celebrating spring/early summer with their glorious rich blue colour, wonderful aroma and lovely nodding heads. The tulips are opening up their petals to embrace the sun, the asparagus is growing up through the soil, poking its nose up ready to eat and freshly picked lettuce is gracing our plates. Bank holiday tomorrow, strangely on a Friday, and hopefully those who do go into woods and paths as their exercise will not only celebrate nature in all its verdant green glory but also respect the current social distancing measures however tedious they may be. Who knows what the announcement in relation to lockdown will be on Sunday and worryingly our leading scientists do not appear to have been put in the picture yet either suggesting a lack of best evidence informing whatever decision is made. For me it won’t make any difference anyway – as someone in the extremely vulnerable group and an extremely vulnerable portion of even that group – it is certainly going to be weeks if not months before we can relax our stringent protection measures to prevent covid-19 infection for me. The uncertainty surrounding this can be difficult to manage and sometimes feels overwhelming. I cope best when I can manage to take just one day at a time and not think long term and simply enjoy the beautiful garden, time with Ian and delicious food. Very important to have good food. We had an amazing salad tonight that sounds really weird but was actually delicious, lightly pickled cavalo nero with ginger, sesame, carrot, and noodles. From a great book called Salad Feasts.
It is also perfect gardening weather of course and I am really grateful to everyone who has joined in our new click and collect system at nurturenature trying to keep the charity active in these weird times. Some plants are sold out and a few new ones have been added with others coming along behind such as gaura and echinaceas. The current list is attached below and I will keep updating it from time to time. Hopefully next time my formatting will leave less to be desired!!As before if you would like any plants or your own up to date list of plants just email me a nurturenature61@gmail.com Look forward to hearing from you!
| PLANT | PRICE | POT SIZE (LITRE) |
| Achillea | £ 8.00 | 2L |
| Aquilegia ‘Koralle’ | £ 6.00 | 1L |
| Aquilegia Mrs Scott Elliot | £ 6.00 | 1L |
| Armeria ‘Nifty Thrifty’ | £ 6.00 | 1L |
| Aster Autumn Jewels ‘Rose Quartz’ Aster mix | £ 7.00 £ 5.00 | 2L 1L |
| Berkheya Campanula ‘Acaulis’ | £ 5.00 £ 7.00 | 1L 2L |
| Clematis Boulevard ‘esme | £10.00 | 1L |
| Clematis ‘Bees Jubilee’ Clematis Boulevard ‘yuan’ | £12.00 £10.00 | 2L 1L |
| Clematis ‘Ernest Markham’ Clematis ‘Louise Rowe’ | £12.00 £12.00 | 2L 2L |
| Crocosmia ‘Lucifer’ Dianthus ‘Little Jock’ | £ 5.00 £ 6.00 | 1L 1L |
| Dianthus ‘Queen of Henry’ Doronicum ‘Little Leo’ | £ 6.00 £ 5.00 | 1L 1L |
| Erigeron ‘Pink Jewel’ Geranium Foundlings Friend | £ 8.00 £ 6.00 | 2L 2L |
| Geum mix Grindelia ‘Robusta’ | £ 8.00 £ 7.00 | 2L 2L |
| Hebe Helenium ‘Helena Gold’ | £10 £ 6.00 | 3l 1L |
| Helianthemum ‘Georgham’ Heuchera ‘Autumn Bride’ | £ 6.00 £ 8.00 | 1L 1L |
| Heuchera Primo ‘Black Pearl’ Ilex Crenata | £ 8.00 £ 8.00 | 2L 2L and 5L |
| Knautia ‘Melton Pastels’ Knautia ‘Red Knight’ | £ 6.00 £ 6.00 | 1L 1L |
| Kniphofia Hirsuta ‘Fire Dance’ Lemon Balm | £ 6.00 £ 4.00 | 1L 1L |
| Leucanthemum ‘Crazy Daisy’ | £ 8.00 | 2L |
| Lysimachia Punctata Lychnis ‘Nana’ | £ 6.00 £ 8.00 | 1L 2L |
| Monarda ‘Fireball’ | £ 5.00 | 9CM |
| Ophiopogon ‘Nigrescens’ Penstemon ‘Zuriblau’ | £ 6.00 £ 6.00 | 1L 1L |
| Phlox flame ‘White Eye’ Phlox ‘Temiskming’ | £ 6.00 £ 6.00 | 1L 1L |
| Primula mix | £ 2.50 | 9CM |
| Rudbeckia ‘Goldstrum’ Saxifraga ‘Whitehill’ | £ 8.00 £ 6.00 | 2L 1L |
| Sedum ‘Fireglow’ Sempervivum (green succulent) | £ 5.00 £ 6.00 | 9CM 1L |
| Tellima ‘Grandiflora’ Teucrium ‘Purple Tails’ | £ 5.00 £ 6.00 £10 | 1L 1L 3L |
| Thymus ‘Anderson Gold’ Trollius ‘Golden Queen’ | £ 5.00 £ 6.00 | 9CM 1L |
| Verbascum ‘Rosetta’ Verbena ‘Bonariensis’ | £ 8.00 £ 8.00 | 2L 2L |
| Verbena ‘Buenos Aires’ Veronica ‘Longifolia’ | £ 8.00 £ 7.00 | 2L 2L |
| Viola ‘ Mrs Lancaster’ | £ 6.00 | 1L |
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