I know some parts of the country have had a thaw, but it rained ice in the night, tiny hard crystals which have coated the road, the roofs and the garden in a fresh, sparkly white crust. The sun broke through the fog first thing, creating ethereal light patterns through the gloom, the sun a soft, moon-like disc. Dave was out early and took this picture across our grass borders. I love how they all turn much the same shade of straw-blonde but have such different shapes. The loose one in the foreground is an unknown form of Molinia caerulea, the very upright one is Calamagrostis x acutiflora ‘Karl Foerster’. To the back Miscanthus gracillimus which never flowers and in the far left corner Miscanthus ‘Undine. They will all stand until February without trouble.
The early sun melted the ice on the field gate opposite and on the large shrub outside the spare room window, each branch glistening with a necklace of drips. The birds love this shrub. It’s a mature Heptacodium miconiodes about 15ft tall and 20ft wide, and it’s alive with sparrows, blue/marsh/great/coal and long-tailed tits who use it as a jumping off point for the bird table underneath. In between diving for seeds, they pick at the shrub with real gusto, presumably in search of insects under the peeling bark of the older branches.
The identity of this shrub stumped us for a while when we first moved here. It has pairs of elegant long, downward-held, incurved leaves, rather Cornus-like. It flowers in autumn, with sprays of white flowers followed by reddish seed pods. I took a branch into Reaseheath College a few years back and it was finally clocked by Advolly who worked at Woolerton Old Hall – they have a specimen there which I’ve since seen. Theirs is slightly tucked under a more vigorous tree in part shade and isn’t in great shape to be honest. Since this plant was only re-introduced to horticulture in 1980 (First collected by Wilson in 1907 in China, but it didn’t catch on) it is quite possible that ours is one of the best specimens in the country.
This is it in October, in full leaf with a mixture of flower and seed heads.
It’s completely bare now, but it’s one of those plants that looks good naked. I’ll try and get a decent picture of it tomorrow when (if) the sun comes out.
My new home on the sofa looks out at the underside of the Heptacodium and the bird table. A Nuthatch lives in the hedgerow opposite and he’s a regular visitor, staying to fill his beak before diving back across the road. My aims this week are few, but one is to take a perfect picture of him/her. The light is appalling at the moment, but here’s a first attempt. It can only get better.
An update on the foot, etc. I slept upstairs in the spare room (our room is still decommissioned) with my leg propped up on a rising tower of pillows. A mince pie at bedtime was a bad idea, pulse rate up which made my foot throb uncomfortably. Got about 4 hours sleep, took another couple of paracetamol at 2am, listened to the cricket on and off until 6, then slept till 10. Woke with foot feeling fine. Had a flannel wash in the bathroom and hubby washed my hair over the bath. I feel almost human. Pain score during the day today – about 2/3. Dave’s been a love, done a load of washing, made me tea etc. Newcastle v. West Brom is just starting on the box – I looked up from my laptop to see some vast Geordie flashing his tatooed belly at the world.
So I’ve no worries on the foot front, except getting a numb bum from so much sitting down, and having nothing to blog about except birds.
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