STAR OF THE MONTH
Cornus kousa
We all know and love dogwoods for their spectacular bracts earlier in the season. In old films you can sometimes see behatted and bustled ladies bidding farewell to departing troops/children/lovers by waving their delicately laced handkerchiefs as the train pulls out or the carriage rattles away. That is what a cornus in flower looks like a flutter of white as the spring breezes blow.
At this time of year, the naturally hanging leaves begin to gather a touch of burgundy and soon they will fall, their job done until next year.
The tree tends to look thirsty in summer because of the droopy leaves. Shelter from winds and do not overwater. Height x Spread 7m x 5m
OLD YELLER
If you were a European settler in America, trundling your covered wagons around the untamed wilderness, then you would be familiar with the Kentucky yellowwood. It would not have been much use to you unless you were a bee or using your spare moments for woodturning), but it has evolved into a very useful garden tree with scented flowers in spring and a cracki organic-egg-yolk yellow leaf colour in autu
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A new plot for tasty crops
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We love July
July is an island floating between the joy of June and the slightly fatigued month of August. It's a grown-up month: the year has shrugged off its adolescent exuberances, the weather is (hopefully) warm enough for ice cream to be one of your five a day, the sea should be swimmable without (too much) danger of hypothermia and thoughts will be of holiday shenanigans and family barbecues. School's out this month, the next tranche of glorious summer colour is washing across our borders and it's my birthday. Lots of reasons to give three rousing cheers for July!
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