Gosh it’s been so hot this week, an unexpected heat wave, which we are never ready for. It could, for all we know, be snowing tomorrow. It’s drizzling here today and much colder than it has been! Yes, the good ole English weather, hours of endless conversation about that which I’ll leave for another day.

Blackberries

A brisk walk along the river this morning, in an attempt to avoid the mid day heat, brought me into contact with a small feast of blackberries along the way. Yes, it’s that wonderful time of year, blackberry abundance, time to grab your boxes and cartons and head to the hedgerows.

Round here where we live, in suburbia, we still have remnants of days gone by. Blackberry bushes can be wild but most likely have been cultivated around here. Left to their own devices they are really, really good at growing almost anywhere and, as you may know, if growing in the wrong place are quite tricky to remove!

But we forgive them, they provide food for so many birds, animals and insects and to those of us who are fortunate enough to know where to go…. and oh yes, I do know some great places near here! After walking down hedgerows, along the road side, on public footpaths, through farmland, packhorse trails, abandoned railway lines and bridle paths you get to know where to find the best ones - by this I mean the ones suited best to your taste. Because, although they may have the same name, they do come in different varieties and sizes, some are rather tart and some are pretty non descript, some earthy, some watery and - for me - the sweetest ones are the best.

Remember the simple ‘rules’ -

• learn how to say this - ‘ We are going Blackberrying’

• watch out for tiny, little worms and the cobwebs

• leave the ones which have been in contact with mouldy ones aside

• don’t eat them from the low branches along the path (dogs) or the the roadside (exhausts)

• preferably have long sleeves and gloves

• don’t get blackberry juice on your clothes - in fact only wear black or dark clothes (joking)

• take a tall friend with long arms

When you do find some suitable ones to eat, those that are ripe, plump, juicy, sweet and shiny, it’s a real joy!

Blackberries can be used for a variety of foods, preserves and baking. The sweet-tart flavour and earthy quality allows them to be used in both sweet and savoury. They go well with creamy and aged cheeses, or rich fatty meats. Blackberries can be added to ice creams, jams, yoghurt, syrups and wine. They also go well with nuts, aged balsamic vinegar, salad greens, figs, and leafy herbs. There are many articles written about blackberries - I just came across these -

https://www.gardenfocused.co.uk/contactus.php

https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/grow-your-own/fruit/blackberries

https://www.farmdrop.com/blog/glut-blackberries-weathers-just-hot-crumble/

Buddlea Davidii

This time of year, the blackberry bushes are always accompanied by the butterfly bush flowering - or Buddleia - originally from China and Japan and it is everywhere around here!

I was brought up in a very old house - nearly 300 years old - and my mum loved cottage gardens. We had to fight our way past a huge Buddleia bush on the way down the garden path to the door, and each year we would chop it right back. Be aware! Each year it sprung back with even more vigour and once the flowers were out, we had lots of butterflies visiting which we could watch from the kitchen window. And bees too, lets not forget the bees.

Along the river here, you can find them growing everywhere. I even saw one growing out of the top of a wall, very hardy, very resilient. Always a welcome stopover for the butterflies and bees. The flowers are said to smell a bit like honey, but I’m not a huge fan. It’s quite a strong smell, and I can locate them by following my nose. The video below is quite lovely, and gives some background information.

I also have a Buddleia in our garden, it self seeded in the pot with my little olive tree, they seem to be in love and I have no intention of separating them. They look very happy together. If the Buddleia gets too big, I can always find a bigger pot for them. Be aware though they self seed everywhere very easily and can actually cause quote a lot of damage if left unchecked. They can break through concrete if they get into cracks - so it’s always good to make sure none are growing very close to your house or walls. One year I noticed one growing between some bricks on the top of a brick post - which is part of our fence!

Mum once bought me a miniature Buddleia with beautiful white flowers. It coincided with us having a very young dog who had just learnt that if you say ‘No!’, then it meant there must be something worthwhile doing, and who had also just learnt how to dig. Hmmmmm.

So - and yes it’s going to be another one of those stories - I would quite often go out into the garden and find my miniature Buddleia in the middle of the lawn.

Practicing Falun Dafa means I take tolerance very seriously (Tolerance is ‘Ren’ in Chinese which also means patience, endurance and forbearance) and I certainly needed more of it! I would pick it up, carry it back over to it’s hole by the fence, replant it. And repeat. It happened a few times. I kept saying no. She kept digging it up.

After a month or so of this, she finally lost interest and the plant rooted. And it sat there happily growing, becoming stronger and getting used to it’s permanent surroundings.

It didn’t seem to be flowering, and it’s first year we weren’t fortunate enough to have any flowers on it. I was looking forward to seeing them because - as it was a miniature - I was intrigued.

The following year, I noticed that a flower was coming, and each tiny bud was perfectly formed, ready for the right moment to open. So I looked on it daily when I was out in the garden to see it’s progress.

I was looking down at the garden form my bedroom window and I noticed the flower. It was open! It was wonderful. Lots of tiny little white flowers all working together on the same stalk to produce the beautiful effect on one whole long flower. I was imagining it’s scent, I wondered if it would be sweeter.

Then I saw my dog out of the corner of my eye and called her. She was a bit confused as to where my voice was coming from, so she ran over towards the sound, and straight into the bush and as she backed away I saw the flower head drooping…. oh no.

Yes, my dear friends, after possibly reading about my mini-lily pond - you are probably wondering how this could happen. Well, that’s life I guess.

Another flower didn’t grow, and the next year the little Buddleia bush had completely disappeared... another garden mystery. But in it’s place I now have a beautiful evergreen hardy jasmine and the scent flows up into my room on an evening, which also happens to be at the same time the Buddleias are flowering, and I must admit, this is a much more bearable scent.