Walking from Pirton yesterday I took a track that runs uphill to Knocking Hoe. I noticed a clump of greenery that looked like some kind of Spurge or Laurel. As it was on the outskirts of the village I took it to be a garden escape.

 I noticed more such clumps all the way along the scrubby hedgerow and woods which bordered the track. Then the penny dropped. This is one of our native shrubs which for obvious reasons is known as Spurge Laurel (Daphne laureola). The common name is misleading however. It is neither one of the Spurges nor one of the Laurels and belongs to the family Thymeleaeceae.

 The typical habitat is exactly where I saw it: hedgerow and woodland on chalky soil.

 

 Walked out to Knocking Hoe (above) from nearby Hitchin via the village of Pirton. Last time I was hereabouts it was January and the landscape was under snow.

 It's still too early in the year to see much in the way of wildflowers. Nonetheless I was thrilled to see several Pasqueflowers (Pulsatilla vulgaris) unfurling. These are a genuine rarity and Knocking Hoe is one of the few sites in the country where they still flourish. Their habitat is sloping chalk grassland grazed to a short sward. As the name suggests they flower around Easter.

  Then I did a brisk circuit over the Pegsdon Hills. The sun was shining, the sky was blue, the temperature would have been warm on a summer's day let alone late March.

 

 Cultivating wildflowers can be a hit and miss affair as I alluded to in my last entry. Often the happiest results happen more by accident than design and do not necessarily involve "native" species. The photos above (taken in June 2018) show a couple of neglected and overgrown plots at the allotments.

 One had been colonised by Peach-leaved Bellflower (Campanula persicifolia) and the other by Fox and Cubs (Pilosella aurantica). Both are wildflowers of alpine regions in central and southern Europe which were introduced to the UK as garden plants. 

 Perhaps they self-seeded from somewhere nearby or perhaps a few of each had been planted for some flowers among the veg. Left to their own devices they became prolific- it seems the allotments reminded them of high mountain meadows!

 

 I scattered several packets of mixed wildflower seed on the wildflower patch at the allotment. Mixtures like these have become popular in recent years. Sometimes they are sold as throw and sow "seed bombs". To be honest the results are likely to be fairly random at best.

 Wildflowers do indeed grow wild but many have their niche and do not prosper beyond it. For example the flora of a limestone scarp will be different to an expanse of boulder clay. Soil, aspect, rainfall all play their part. Many wild species in fact have a symbiotic relationship with human activity such as a coppiced wood or a hay meadow.

 So mixed seed will produce mixed results. Hopefully it may contain some that happen to like the conditions in a particular spot. For that reason I sow them as an experiment more in hope than expectation!

 

 All organic matter decomposes given time. Letting time do the work is sometimes referred to as "cold composting". A certain amount of heat is generated but worms do much of the digesting. Then again there is "hot composting" which is quicker. Raising the temperature increases decomposition by microbial activity. Indeed it may become too hot for worms though they will return if the pile cools.

 "Hot bins" can be purchased made from thick polypropylene which retains the internal heat and insulates from external cold. But they cost about £200 so I decided on the DIY approach using two spare "Dalek" bins, one slightly smaller than other.

 

  I lagged the smaller one with some insulation material left over from another project. Basically it's a tougher version of bubblewrap with a layer of foil on both sides. Then I put the larger bin over the smaller thereby creating a double wall bin insulated in the middle.

 

  I doubt it will get as hot as a purpose made hot composter but I'm happy to let time play its part. In any case if it speeds up the initial composting I will transfer the contents to another bin for the worms to finish.

 

 

 

 Trachystemon orientalis is one of my favourite plants for early flowers- and early bees.

 

 

 Late winter/early spring is a good time for pruning and I did just that over the weekend. Trees and shrubs are coming out of dormancy but not yet in full growth. There are some that benefit from being pruned at different times of the year but I got the loppers out for pruning a Sumach, a Bay, an apple tree, a Buddleja and several others. 

 

 The fronds of this fern are semi-evergreen but wilt once a year. Possibly a Japanese Shield Fern (Dryopteris erythrosora)? It's a tall statuesque fern in full growth but the fronds have opened fan-like to reveal the presence of a garden spirit.

 In Greek mythology nymphs personify nature in the form of a female deity. Different kinds of nymph were found in different places. So I think this one would be a nymph of the Alseids (groves) or Dryads (forest).

 

 Lords and Ladies aka Cuckoo Pint (Arum maculatum) is prolific in woods and hedgerows. Mostly they have plain green leaves but some are marked with dark specks like the ones in the foreground of the photograph above. These are also of a lighter green than the plain leaved Arums behind them. Both types are referred to as A. maculatum and no distinction is made between them as far as I'm aware.

 

 The Common Primrose (Primula vulgaris) is one of those wildflowers that proliferates in both town and country. The first photograph (circa March 2018) is of a lane in Dorset. The second (circa March 2019) was taken in Nunhead Cemetery, South London. And it's one of our native wildflowers that has become a popular garden plant. Perhaps the colonies we find in urban areas were plantings that spread though the Primroses at Nunhead might go back to when the cemetery was established beyond the bounds of the city? 

 

  Dog's Mercury (Mercurialis perennis) carpeting the woodland floor. It's not showy but it's prolific- and poisonous. The presence of M. perennis is an indicator of ancient woodland.

 

 Dog Violets (Viola riviniana) are tiny but lovely despite the unlovely name. Yesterday I saw a sunny hedgebank in a village dotted with V. riviniana nestling among the nettles. Usually the flowers of Dog Violets are of a purple hue but these were the less common white form.

 Today I saw a shimmering haze of colour on a grass verge next to a main road. On closer inspection I saw that nature had laid on a lovely display of diminutive wildflowers: the pinks of Red Deadnettle, the yellows of Lesser Celandine and a drift of Dog Violets in rich plum purple...

 

 Speaking of Stinking Hellebores [see last entry] I saw this clump today growing strong beside a footpath in Hertfordshire. A big bumblebee appeared and began foraging around the masses of green flowers. That will be a queen bee coming out of hibernation. There wasn't anything else in flower in the immediate vicinity so H. foetidus is clearly a valuable early source of nectar.

 It was a cool and windy day with several brief hail showers but bumblebees are furry creatures. It is speculated they may have originated in the Himalayas and they don't mind a cold blow if the sun is out.

 

 Several Stinking Hellebores (Helleborus foetidus) I planted last autumn are flowering nicely- rather later than others I have seen but the roots probably needed time to settle in. The flowers and foliage have a faint musty smell; stinking and fetid is putting it a bit strong.

 As I have noted before H. foetidus is one of the relatively few plants that has green flowers. In the background (though out of focus) is another: Wood Spurge (Euphorbia amygdaloides var. robbiae). Both are woodlanders by habit thriving among sunny glades and edges. It is said that the colours of flowers may have evolved to be most visible to pollinators at time of flowering. 

 The almost luminous green of the Stinking Hellebore and the lime green of Wood Spurge certainly do stand out against the mottled browns of earth and leaf litter. 

 

 Spring is in the air on the allotment. 

 

  In the green. Most spring flowering bulbs can be planted 'dry' in the autumn but certain species e.g. Snowdrops need to remain moist during their dormant period. They do not store well and are likely to be dead rather than dormant by the time of planting. In which case they either need to be planted freshly lifted in the autumn or 'in the green' in spring i.e. in leaf before or after flowering. Even so they will probably take a year or two to settle in.

 The large patch of Snowdrops at the back of the garden has all but finished flowering so it seemed like a good time to dig up a few clumps for propagation purposes. In previous years I have dug clumps up and put them straight in the ground further away to spread them around. This year I will pot them and see how they do. I could separate the numerous bulbs that form each clump but I think minimising root disturbance will aid their growth.   

 

 

 Greater Periwinkle (Vinca major) has the deserved reputation of being a tough as old boots groundcover that does well in shady spots. It flowers early in the year and is smothered in starry mauve blooms. Just about every stem droops down onto the ground and roots to create more growth. 

 My father tells me that Vinca major used to be advertised every Sunday in The Observer newspaper for purchase by mail order with the slogan "rolling and rollicking"!

 

 Bulbs are the mainstay of the garden in early spring (or late winter depending on how you look at it). Crocus tommasinianus overlaps with Snowdrops, early daffs like February Gold and Winter Aconites.  

 

 Narcissus Telamonius Plenus is one of the names this bloom goes by. Vincent Van Sion first noticed this variety of double daffodil flowering in his London garden in 1620. The ones in my London garden come from the excellent Shipton Bulbs so I hope they won't mind me quoting from their catalogue:

 

 "We feel this is really the double form of the wild N. pseudonarcissus despite the cultivar name (in fact an old synonym of N. pseudonarcissus flore piano). These daffodils appear in woodlands all over Britain, sometimes appearing with a green tinge in the petals, as with our local "Derwen" daffodil. They are nowadays associated with the very old variety N. Van Sion, introduced in the 17th. century but the forms inhabiting our British woods and gardens are smaller and wilder looking than the Van Sion offered by Dutch growers today, with a much smaller flowering bulb."

 

 Like the double form of the Common Snowdrop I mentioned recently this rather shaggy looking daffodil may well have been a natural variation selected from the wild. From where exactly we will probably never know because even Van Sion couldn't identify its origin.