Mystery bulb. Walking around the 'hood I passed a front garden where various plants had been left on the front wall including these bulbs. It has become a custom (round here at least) that if someone has something they wish to dispose of they leave it on the street and invariably a passer by gathers it up to put it to use. An informal and effective form of recycling which seems to extend to plants as well.

 I'm pretty sure these are Hyacinthoides hispanica aka Spanish Bluebell. They have a bigger bulb than our native H. non-scripta, grow taller and straighter with bell shaped flowers of a bluer hue than the Bluebells of our ancient woods. I planted them in a spot at the base of a shady section of the fence/ivy hedge so I'll see what results. Assuming they are Spanish Bluebells they will add to a number that were already in the garden when I moved in. As I am planting them 'in the green' they will probably not flower this year and take a year or two to settle in.

 I should note at this point that H. hispanica has a very bad rep among conservationists. It is said to hybridise with native Bluebells to their detriment. Indeed the hybrid of the two H. x massartiana is what the bulb trade has sold as Bluebells for a very long time; I would think they account for virtually all Bluebells in gardens. The characteristics of H. hispanica dominate, for example the hybrid is scentless. There is considerable angst that it will further hybridise with H. non-scripta.

 Having said that the Spanish Bluebell is a worthy plant in its own right which has been grown in this country for centuries. Variations on the Hyacinthoides genus occur on both the Southern European and North African sides of the Mediterranean in addition to H. non-scripta in northern France, Belgium and the UK. Interestingly recent research suggests that native Bluebells have much greater resistance to cross pollinating than has been supposed.

 Even so I wouldn't plant H. hispanica next to a Bluebell wood or in a rural setting. In central London that is not really an issue. The nearest extant colony of native Bluebells is in Abbey Wood about ten miles away. As far as I can see they are not mutating despite being surrounded by the metropolis. 

Narcissus 'February Gold' and Crocus tommasinianus.

Spring arrives on the allotment.

NB These are Narcissus 'February Gold' living up to their name.

 Wild plants are starting to flower even in February but you have to look closely. Red Deadnettle (Lamium purpureum) is one of the first. It forms low growing mats and the flowers are tiny. None the less it is an important bee plant because it flowers so early and for most of the year.  

 Three storms have buffeted this island in quick succession bringing gale force winds and driving rain. London got a pounding judging by the news but I was at the ancestral home in Hertfordshire. A tree in next door's garden came down but it was pretty much dead already- the greenery is Ivy. 

 Actually that bears out a point I made a few weeks ago [1st. February]. Ivy doesn't kill healthy trees but the additional weight and wind profile of Ivy on a dead or dying tree might be more than it can bear.

 Anyway I got the bow saw out and the loppers...

 A forest of Teasels (Dipsacus fullonum). A common enough wild plant but less common to see so many in one area. Teasels are biennial and die after flowering but the dried out stems and seed heads stand tall into the winter months. In the first year of growth D. fullonum puts out a rather prickly rosette of leaves; I saw a good many at ground level which will form another forest. 

 Is this a "tiny forest"? Seen near Ickleford in Hertfordshire: a multitude of saplings, bare root 'whips' planted out with plastic tubing to protect them from being eaten by deer. Tiny forests are a concept developed by Japanese botanist Akira Miawaki in the 1970s. The idea is to use native species to create a dense fast growing woodland on a very small scale.

 I'll be fascinated to see how this one develops in the years ahead because I have some reservations about the methodology. When forests generate or regenerate naturally the process of natural selection has the effect of spacing and layering new growth. Some schools of thought like forest gardening set out to mimic nature with canopy, understory and ground level species. Planting trees very close together will result in an impenetrable thicket and no doubt such pockets can be a good thing. But I can't help thinking a wider spacing is preferable?

 Then again many of the typical species of a native hedge will grow into trees if left to their own devices but are suitable to merge together as a single mass. Perhaps a tiny forest is an enormous hedgerow? 

 I enjoy walking on the urban margins. This stretch of the River Purwell on the outskirts of Hitchin runs past an industrial estate, under a railway bridge then meanders between a sewage works and a scrapyard. None the less these fringes which are neither town nor country are a haven for nature.

 As I approached the bridge I saw something gleaming yellow in the foreground: a cluster of Primroses (Primula vulgaris), the first ones I've seen in flower this year...

 Hungry bees will take to the wing even in February if the day is mild and sunny. I saw this bee working its way around a river bank colonised by Snowdrops. Galanthus species are an important source of pollen and nectar being the first plants to flower en masse as spring beckons.

 More Snowdrops. As noted in recent entries there is a large patch of them at the back of the garden. Over the years I've dug up small clumps after flowering and transplanted them 'in the green' to other parts of the garden. These clumps are themselves clumping up nicely.

 This area is dominated by Persicaria amplexicaulis later in the year but it dies down over winter and the new growth has yet to appear. Early flowering bulbs are ideal for a spot like this. By the time the Persicaria appears the bulbs have flowered, wilted and become dormant underground.

Shades of green coming to life.

 NB Regular readers of this diary will notice that I have altered the presentation of the archive section in the side column. In fact the Blogger platform has decided for some reason to deactivate the option of listing posts with a snippet of text from the first line of each post. [CORRECTION 15/02/22 Happy to say Blogger has restored my preferred format of listing posts with text!]

 Every month of every year can be clicked on for seasonal interest. Alternatively the search feature can be used to research a particular plant or topic that might be in the diary. There are nearly a thousand entries so far so hopefully there's something relevant! 

 I have also added my e-mail address to the header of the side column in addition to its place on the 'View my complete profile' page. Feel free to contact me with any comments, questions etc. 

 I've experimented with propagating the Snowdrops that have colonised the back of the garden [see Mondays entry]. The simplest -and probably the most effective way- to multiply Snowdrops is to lift a clump after flowering and plant it straight into the ground elsewhere. 

 Thus I have extended the existing patch with transplanted clumps which are clumping up nicely in other parts of the garden. Traditionally Snowdrops were sold 'in the green' in late winter/early spring rather than being sold in autumn- the bulbs don't respond well to drying out. Purchasing Snowdrops in autumn is probably best avoided unless you can be sure the bulbs are freshly lifted.

 I also wanted to see if I could grow them on in pots as well. I tried lifting clumps in the green and separating the bulbs. The root disturbance seems to set them back, growth is limited and they're shy to flower. On the other hand planting a clump straight into a pot with some John Innes works much better as seen above. These were lifted and potted about ten months ago. 

 Crocus tommasinianus is just starting to flower. Like Snowdrops and Winter Aconites it's a woodlander by nature that flowers early in the year when the trees are bare. Indeed C. tommasinianus is sometimes called the Woodland Crocus but the flowers only open when the sun is on them. It also does well in grass. The golden anthers are dusted with pollen which is manna for emerging pollinators. 

 Snowdrops everywhere are starting to bloom, including the back garden of my flat in London. As noted in my previous entry we seem to be heading towards an early spring. Some years the Snowdrops are a bit later, then again we've had a rather dry winter. Galanthus favour a wet winter so we'll see how they develop in the weeks ahead.

 They were planted by a previous occupant of the house- I expect they've multiplied considerably over the years. I think these may be the tall, vigorous Galanthus 'Sam Arnott', a variety that was propagated and sold through mail order by the Giant Snowdrop Company which traded in the fifties and sixties.

 These Bergenia cordifolia are coming into flower. It's a species with a long flowering season but even so they're pretty early. A report published this week by the University of Cambridge states that plants in the UK are opening their flowers an average 26 days earlier in the period from 1987-2019 as compared to the period from 1753 to 1986. Plants are a useful indicator of changing climatic conditions. Not only are they very responsive to climate there are many botanical records to refer to.

 It's been chilly this week but there is a definite freshness in the air which makes it feel like we're heading for an early spring. Having said that it was damn cold right into May last year so there are fluctuations but the report does seem to suggest a pattern.

 It's worth noting that plants have evolved over millions of years and during that time they will have seen a lot of weather. Also I think we tend to regard man made climate change as a new thing but I suspect this overlooks previous environmental impacts. For example before agriculture this country would have been a forested island inhabited by small tribes of hunter-gatherers.

 None the less we do seem to be seeing some sharp changes bought about by pollution based climate change. An early spring is pleasant in many ways but the life cycles of flora and fauna are intertwined. For example flowering plants and pollinators have co-evolved across millennia. On the one hand this shows an extraordinary ability to assimilate change. On the other hand abrupt change may have consequences. Case in point it has been noted that a mismatch can occur between the emergence of certain plants and certain pollinators because one or the other is too early or too late.

 Much as I'm longing for spring another part of me doesn't want winter to end too soon. Four seasons in the usual order is fine by me. 

 The Holly and the Ivy. This voluminous Holly must be well over thirty feet tall by now. Over the years thickening tendrils of Ivy have made their way up the trunk and spread outwards. Parts of the tree are now more Ivy than Holly. 

 I don't want the Ivy to smother the tree entirely so I've set about removing as much as I can (at least on this side of the wall, it actually grows in the neighbours' garden). I started at ground level with long handled loppers, then worked higher with a telescopic pole lopper, higher still by using the pole off a step ladder, then went into the middle of the tree with an extension ladder. 

 The idea that Ivy "strangles" trees is a myth but if a tree becomes one big mass of Ivy then only the outer branches poking out will reach the light to photosynthesise. New growth from the trunk will be inhibited by being shaded out. I think that trees and Ivy can generally coexist though an old tree on the way out could be hastened on its way if it becomes smothered. Weak branches might not bear the extra weight and the wind profile of the tree will be increased. 

 In this case however the Holly is vigorous but being outcompeted by the Ivy so I want to even up the balance. There is much reduced growth of branches and foliage in areas where the vines have become dominant.

 It's a job to do in winter before the nesting season begins. I spotted a number of old nests among the greenery. I won't be able to remove all the Ivy and in any case I don't wish to do so. As I've noted before Ivy is one of the very best plants for wildlife value. [see entries dated 21st. September and 21st. November 2020]