TAKE ME! - Estuary LIFE Magazines

Gardening LIFE By Christine Robson
The Catkin – a true harbinger of
spring and in this case the dainty
yellow lambs tails are on a Corylus
avellana contorta.
I think the beauty of this contorted
hazel appears during the Winter
and Spring months before the
leaves appear, which I think are
singularly unattractive.
It looks very effective in the
wintertime when its bare contorted
branches are shown against a
plain dark background – see the
photograph. The twisted stems
are often used by flower arrangers
especially in Japanese type
minimalist arrangements. Come
and see me if you need any, I am
always pruning it.
If you have any of these shrubs/
trees you must remove any
straight stems that appear. If you
don’t the whole tree may revert to
its original uncontorted shape. The
same rule applies to variegated
shrubs. Remove at ground level,
any plain leaved stems that
appear.
In early February there is not a
huge amount of work to do in the
garden, but you can watch the
birds and feed them. I am very
aware of when the birds don’t
require additional feeding as
they never visit my garden at all
when natural food in the wild is
available.
Last year I had very few visitors to
my feeders from September to the
end of December, because of the
availability of seeds and berries
last Autumn time. If you would
like to have a bird friendly garden
avoid cutting all hedges and large
shrubs until the end of June. When
you place your feeders make sure
that they are a few metres away
from a hedge or fence. You know
why. Sorry cat lovers!
Birds like clean water for
bathing and drinking. Last
summer I had two ducks
visit my garden for many
weeks. Their wide but
shallow water container
was also used by collared
doves. Unfortunately the
ducks made the water
extremely dirty which meant
frequent changing, and I
had to buy special food for
them! They used to fly, or
walk in, up my driveway
and ‘quack’ at my window
until there was a suitable
reaction from me. I believe
other gardens had visits
from ducks as well. Maybe
some small ponds dried up
last summer?
I often read articles in
magazines about birds,
and one I read recently mentioned
supplements for birds. Really?
Yes, bird food is available with
added vitamins!
Rest while you can, the gardening
season is nearly upon us again.
Catkin - Contorted Hazel
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