Up top in the west corner

Went 'up top' to the west corner of the garden today cutting docks, pulling out baby brambles and pruning next door's rhododendrons that hang over the wall as I went. As I neared the top I was also pulling out Himalayan Balsam seedlings, some of which are now showing their second leaves.

Up among the crunchy underfoot leaves of the goat willow I found three baby rowan trees. This was the largest. I've left them all but a couple may get pulled out in due course. There are several more elsewhere in the garden. We are not short of young rowan trees. Nor old ones, come to that, though I think the oldest may keel over this year. The hollows at the base of its trunk are becoming clearer.

This pic from June 2013 shows the only live part back then. It lives on valiantly even though the old pieces of wood from an old treehouse that was built in the tree long before our time have almost rotted away.

old rowan in February 2007

Up top where I cleared some Spiraea during 2014, self-seeded foxgloves are doing well. I love the silvery furriness of young foxglove leaves.

young foxglove

There is dead spiraea up there where I set bonfires so I had another wee bonfire today, burning dead stalks and old rose wood. And I gazed at the treescape up the hill.

Something tells me this little oak will not survive the depradations of roe deer. Fortunately there are a couple of others that have got large enough to survive.

Near there is a favourite mossy mound:

about 50cm deep, I reckon

I don't often feel annoyed with deer chewings; it's something one just has to live with here, but just biting small branches off a young rhododendron (not ponticum!) that hasn't flowered yet, and spitting them out struck me as vandalism. Humph.

This wacky dandelion near the back door cheered me up.

today's favourite dandelion