The wild sides of Snowshill

Ah, the delights of the unpredictable English weather! We've replaced our sun hats for waterproofs and made a quick dash to plant up summer bedding in between down pours. In keeping with Charles Wade's love of blues and purples, today we've been planting Perovskias, Agastache, Phlox, Clematis and Lavenders in the Manor wall border. This should provide a brilliant backdrop to the house later this summer (and they'll be pictures to show for it).
 Around five years ago, wildflowers were introduced in the main orchard to attract benefical wildlife into the garden. With the daffodils and cow slip now over, the orchard is now blooming with Yellow Rattle, Night Flowering Catchfly, Red Campions and Early Spotted Orchids - with Ox-eye Daisies and Geraniums to flower soon. 

  

Yellow Rattle (Rhinanthus minor)



  

Red Campion (Silene dioica)




Night Flowering Flycatcher (Silene noctiflora)



To top it off, we've also spotted a Black Cap which Linda, who's been Gardener-in-Charge here at Snowshill for 23 years, has never seen or heard in the garden until yesterday...and it was a new sight for me too! The bird's made an epic journey from South Africa and makes a sound like two pebbles hitting together (which I witnessed today). If, like myself, you thought a Black Cap was a type of mushroom, here's a picture below to clear up any confusion.

 

Black Cap