Windowbox spring

After earlier rain and a spell of wonderfully warm weather, plants in Wbx are growing very quickly. The herb robert up against the sallow log will soon be in flower and I have had to finger pick the burgeoning white clover back to manageable proportions.

The solitary grass plant, despite much mildew, also grows quickly and threatens to swamp the southern end of Wbx. However, as soon as it has flowered and I have worked out what it is I shall cut it back thereby creating, no doubt, the world's only single plant hay meadow.

I found a beetle floating in the pond this afternoon, a Sitona clover weevil I think.

Dandelions and other things

The first dandelion has come into flower with the warm spring sunshine and it reminds of how often people say that if this was a rare plant it would be much sought after. In Wbx the two plants are certainly an asset, well behaved and small enough not to seem out of scale. They are, I suspect, Taraxacum undulatiflorum, but I will have to do some work with the BSBI dandelion book to be sure.

In the centre right of the picture is the small Japanese maple its leaves, as I predicted, damaged by a late frost. I think it will survive this year, but it will be struggling in colder winters than this.

On the far right there is one of the two tutsan plants (Hypericum androsaemum). This is supposed to be a woodland plant, but is not uncommon in our garden.