Welcome visitors…

June 2021

Miraculously, due to ongoing visits to a wonderful osteopathy practice in Long Melford, my acute back problem of May slowly improved and despite being under-prepared I was able to open my studio over the Suffolk Open Studios trail weekend of 12th and 13th June. The sun shone, daisies sparkled in the mini wildflower meadow and lots of lovely, interested visitors arrived to see my work. Due to Covid restrictions only three people could be in my studio at one time so I was glad to be able to invite those waiting to sit or wander in the garden and it was a real pleasure to share it with them.

One of the main garden topics I was asked about was the wildflower meadow which, fortuitously, I don’t think has ever looked better. Just five years on, the handful of oxe-eye daisies bought as plug plants have spread around and now pretty much dominate the area, rising above the grasses in a sea of white. The very first native poppy has appeared along with scatterings of common clover, white bladder campion, greater stitchwort, meadow buttercups and common knapweed.  Yellow rattle introduced to weaken the grass has re-appeared and will have to be kept an eye on. In autumn, we will strim and rake the area and the cycle will begin again next spring.

It seems that native plants frequently find a foothold in towns and urban areas and I wonder if it is four-legged visitors to our garden that are responsible for the less welcome stickyweed I keep finding? Could the culprits be the pair of hedgehogs arriving for their supper each night perhaps? 

As for the strange orange and black creatures pictured, they are innocent Ladybird ‘nymphs’ and very welcome to all the greenfly, spider mites and aphids they can eat. Unbelievably you can buy them in packs of 50 on Amazon!