Dec 20, 2018
A blend of slow radio, gardening advice and conversation,
and readings from the best garden and wildlife writing.
These notes may contain affiliate links.
Garden soundtrack
Winter reading, micro reviews.
The Well-Tempered Garden, by Christopher Lloyd,
paperback edition published 2014 by Weidenfeld and
Nicolson https://amzn.to/2UVFJNX
Home Ground, by Dan Pearson, published 2011 by Conran
Octopus
Using #betwixtmas to plan the garden for the coming
year – a chance to think about making provision for wildlife.
Interview with Kate Bradbury
08:42 Plant memories
11:16 What are gardens for?
16:05 The buddleia incident
BARRATT HOMES/RSPB
BBC WILDLIFE MAGAZINE
22:21 Planning wildlife into built environments
24:15 The Bumblebee Flies Anyway – what's in a
name?
26:09 Lawns, are they really so bad?
NHS Insect bites and stings advice
33:08 Placing an economic cost on "environment
services"
34:06 What hope going forward?
Review of Kate’s latest book, The Bumblebee Flies Anyway:
a year of gardening and (wild)life https://amzn.to/2K9wF2U, on the
Gardens, Weeds & Words blog, here:
Kate’s previous book, The Wildlife Gardener,
available here: https://amzn.to/2zY1cvH
Hydrangeas with better wildlife value
It’s true, the ubiquitous mophead Hydrangea
macrophylla has a flower head packed with sterile florets,
which offer no food for pollinating insects. But those with the
flower structure known as “lacecap”, where small, tightly furled
fertile florets are surrounded by a thing ring of their sterile
counterparts, are much richer in nectar. These include varieties of
paniculate hydrangea, such as Hydrangea paniculata
‘Vanille Fraise’ or ‘Limelight', the climbing hydrangea
Hydrangea anomoloa subsp. petiolaris, and the
impressive oakleaved hydrangea, Hydrangea quercifolia,
with its wonderful autumn colouration. Varieties of
Hydrangea arborescens, including the popular
‘Annabelle’, are also worth including in your
pollinator-friendly plantings.
With thanks to Richard Chivers for providing
his Welsh tones for the reading. You can find Richard’s acclaimed
blog at sharpenyourspades.com, and the gent himself lurks on social
media here:
Twitter https://twitter.com/spadesharp Instagram https://www.instagram.com/sharpenyourspades/
That’s it for 2018! Thank you for all your support and lovely
messages. Looking forward to bringing you more slow gardening radio
and conversations with creatives and plant-inspired makers next
year.
website: gardensweedsandwords.com
Instagram: instagram.com/AndrewTimothyOB
Twitter: twitter.com/AndrewTimothyOB