Get Orff My Cabbages!

Late July is a good time to spot the Cabbage White Butterfly in my garden. As you can see from the picture, they move around pretty fast.



They get their name because their children like cabbages. In fact, the feckless creatures lay their eggs on my Sea Kale, bugger off and leave the caterpillars to fend for themselves!

That's why I do a tour of inspection every week and when I find the eggs, I crush them with a fingernail.

Hint: Look on the underside of the leaves

The price of books

This is the sort of picture you find used to illustrate magazine articles about rain forest destruction but I took it in the Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire, England

I don't know if these trees were actually felled to make paper for books. Does the camera lie? Well, it can certainly tell several stories...

Neptune Fountain

This fountain in Cheltenham was designed by Joseph Hall, and constructed by R.L. Boulton and Sons in 1892-3 but they were into "Sustainability" way before it became fashionable. Instead of connecting it to the water mains, they built it directly above the culvert that carries the mighty River Chelt under the centre of the town. There's a pump to bring the water up and keep old Neptune cool.

Those with a passing knowledge of the town might think I'm joking about the "mighty" River Chelt. Sure, it's only a thin blue line on the map and often  masquerades as a pleasant stream but give it some decent rain and that culvert just isn't big enough...

Art in the Park

Every summer, around the time of the Cheltenham Music Festival, they put on "Art in the Park" - a free exhibition of pictures - and if you like it, you can buy it. Not "off the peg", more like "off the chain-link fencing" but hey...

Click to enlarge

Bees

A bee on my "Butterfly Bush" (Buddleja Lochinch)

Another bee on my Echium vulgare 'Dwarf Hybrids

Interesting bit of recycling

Saw this in Cheltenham today . "What will they think of next?"™

Reforming the Girl Guides

A friend of mine has been a Brown Owl at Girl Guides for years and despite the strain, still looks young enough to get asked for ID when buying drink. (Not that she'd let the guides near her booze or be drunk in charge of a woggle but I digress)

Anyway. she got peeved about religious discrimination in "Girlguiding UK". No, this isn't a story about a guide wearing a veil, it's about discrimination against those with no religion. Apparently, you can get into Girlguiding UK as an atheist but there's what you might call a "canvas ceiling". Unless you promise to "Love God",  you cannot attempt the Baden Powell Challenge, be a Queen's Guide, become a full adult leader in charge of a Unit of Rainbows, Brownies or Guides, or become a Commissioner.

Our former colonies such as Canada and Australia have very sensibly dealt with this by requiring only that you take a spiritual journey which may or may not end up in religious belief.

So what does a British girl do? She writes a stiff letter to The Times of course! And it gets published - see here - subscription required.

If you are a member or a friend of Guiding, or if you have a strong opinion on the  issue then please write to chq@girlguiding.org.uk, / Jo Hobbs, Head of Guiding Development, Girlguiding CHQ, 17-19 Buckingham Palace Road, London SW1W 0PT.

Around Tewkesbury

The floods around Tewkesbury are not as bad as in July 2007 when the town was cut off. I went out with the camera...


Swan at Bredon strikes a somewhat undignified pose



Near the Mythe Water Works

This house is actually called "The Mythe"

Found this bull-rush type thing in the pond at Chaceley

The church at Chaceley

Gaillardia aristata

I first discovered these jolly flowers growing in a pot at Wallingford station on the Cholsey and Wallingford Railway- a preserved former Great Western Railway branchline. How quintessentially English you might think but they originate from the US and are named for M. Gaillard de Charentonneau, an 18th-century French magistrate. They cope well with poor, dry soil and don't need much attention - ideal for me!

My first attempt was with Gaillardia aristata 'Goblin' which you can find in seed shops everywhere. It does grow rather tall (60cm) and flop so I'm trying a couple of remedies:

1. In early May, I sheared the top off the plants reducing them to around 15cm
2. I've got some seeds for a variety called 'Arizona Sun'. The flowers are very similar but the plant only grows to around 30cm

You can buy them in Garden Centres but if like the idea of drift of them, that's a bit expensive.Growing your own from seed is medium difficult. Warmth is needed to get the seeds and young plants started. Plant out after frosts have ended. They do survive a frosty Winter although not completely reliably. Some of mine died - right next to others that survived. It's probably worth harvesting the seed and sowing some in February each year