April 8th – And as I predicted, within twenty four hours that same cherry was absolutely perfect. The clumps of flowers were huge, and stunning against a spring azure sky.
This blossom will be short lived and soon fall like snow, but oh my heart sings for that one sunny morning when I could just stand beneath and drift off, into white.
Things might be OK, after all.
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April 7th – I think my mood is improving a little. It really sank leading up to, and over the weekend, but the realisation that life and spring continue are helping me adapt to new norms.
This beautiful cherry blossom is coming on strong now, and this one tree is always so gorgeous. This can never be wrong.
Soon this will be an absolute riot of flowers.
The sun and blossom are all I needed to feel better, I think.
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April 24th – I’m not working too much this week, but had to go to Telford for a meeting. On my way to Hortonwood but also having need to visit Stafford Park, I passed this stunning line of ornamental cherry trees in Blossom along the motorway.
Industrial estates like this never get much attention – but those trees are relatively undisturbed and the margins, edgelands and verges of places like this are relatively undisturbed havens for everything from pollinators to fungi.
Bravo to the people that planted these trees. A gorgeous sight in an unexpected place.
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March 29th – And later, in Darlaston, the cherry blossom is ahead of that I saw a week ago in Telford.
It’s an absolute riot of delicate, tissue-paper like flowers. And so early, too.
Against the blue sky, with the sun on my face, it’s hard to think of a better start to the day than the sight of such gorgeous flowers.
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March 26th – A full three weeks earlier than last year, the cherry blossom is coming out on the industrial estate where I work.
Returning from Telford at lunchtime, I noticed the pinky white flowers catching the sunlight. Then I looked around, and all the other ornamental cherries on the estate that I could see were flowering similarly.
Against the fine china blue sky it was a wonderful, uplifting sight.
This spring is early, but I’m not complaining about that at all! I just wish it would warm up a little now.
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March 29th – Again returning from Shenstone, again it was raining as as I alighted from the train. My heart was heavy and I didn’t fancy the wet ride home but something caught my eye in the shrub border to the platform.
An ornamental blackcurrant, in flower. It was dripping with rain, but that glorious pinky red was most vivid in the gloom. And for that, it made me happy.
November 14th – Urban planners and groundsmen seem to like ornamental cherry trees. They grace town centres, open spaces, park and industrial estates. They don’t go particularly wild, take little care and offer beautiful blossom in spring, and gorgeous leaf colours in autumn, like these at Hortonwood.
They certainly brightened my day on a very, very dull morning.
September 19th n- One of the odder fruits of the autumn is the snowberry. Serving only as bird food, this ornamental shrub, like firethorn, is often used for ornamentation in public parks, edge lands, industrial estate landscaping and so on.
As far as I can tell, the birds seem to like the white berries that make a distinctive popping sound when stepped on or thrown hard at the floor, and the bees certainly like the pink and white flowers, still very much in evidence on the same shrubs as the large, healthy-looking fruit.
Snowberry will grow with little attention needed and does look pretty, especially when dappled by dew, as these examples in the centre of Darlaston attest.
May 25th – Not a brilliant shot but something I’ve not seen growing wild in the UK before – ornamental alliums. These are pretty much onions, similar to wild garlic etc, and several less ornate relatives are common, but I’ve never seen these large, purple globes before outside of gardens.
They’re growing well on the grass edge land at Sandhills, just by Home Farm. I was fascinated to find them.
October 16th – Spotted in Wednesbury, a whole line of snowberry bushes. These low, still flowering shrubs are peppered with the globular, white berries that look quite beautiful.
I know of no other fruit like it. I assume it’s an import for ornamental reasons. It’s certainly one of the markers of autumn.
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