Our meet-up in March

For our second meet-up of the year we were blessed with a warm sunny day - spring like indeed and it turned out to be the warmest day of the year.

We decided to all work on one bed and with three of us that worked very well: a chance to chat and work together and get to know a new volunteer. It was easier to advise on which plants needed to go - mainly sedge  and creeping buttercup !

Primroses are an important early nectar source for butterflies like brimstone and small tortoiseshell and are an ancient-woodland-indicator plant. Flowers and leaves are edible and primroses used to be used to make a country wine.

Lovely to see the deep blue of lungwort (Pulmonaria) one of the first flowering plants of spring and attractive to bee-flies, bees and other insects. It can have different colour  flowers on the same plant, and was thought to be efficacious against lung problems due to its medicinal leaves.

The pink flowers are on an almond tree - Robyjn (Prunus dulcis) is a soft-shelled Dutch variety. These flowers should be followed by nuts in August - fingers crossed!

With the rhubarb emerging and the discovery of two self seeded valerian herb plants we are hoping for a fruitful(!) year. Valerian is a wonderful plant with white or pink flowers that smell like very sweet vanilla, it is a medicinal herb used for sleep disorders as well as anxiety and stress.