Marlborough Living Sep - Oct 2021

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WEEDS The beauty and use of 50 vagabond plants - by Gareth Richards Weeds are nature’s first responders, healing the wounds that man inflicts upon the earth. They valiantly bring life back into even the most polluted land, pushing green shoots of raw ecological power through tarmac and concrete on abandoned sites. The cheerful daisy in the pavement crack - or even, dare it be said, the buddleia that turns derelict buildings into butterfly havens. Countless plants that we dismiss as weeds have amazing powers. Every weed has some redeeming qualities. When the chips are down, weeds come to the rescue. You cut yourself miles from home on a country walk, there are several weeds you can reach for to help stop the bleeding - and they even have antibacterial properties too. We might have lost much of our countryside but a select band of plants paint the grey concrete green again. They are a defiant echo of the wild. In an age of extinctions, weeds offer hope: their very existence is continual proof of nature’s resilience. Yet we are so often blind to their beauty. “The notion that a plant is a weed is the most effective barrier for stopping us looking at it closely” wrote acclaimed naturalist Richard Mabey first published almost 50 years ago. Does being native matter? Our perceptions are very much a question of time: many of our most-loved wildflowers such as field poppies and cornflowers are technically just as ‘non-native’ as Japanese knotweed, yet because they’ve been here for many hundreds of years we’ve grown to appreciate and even love them. Pinning down the native ranges of weeds is a tricky business. Often they’ve been around mankind for so long that their precise origins are unknown. Furthermore, the ever-accelerating rate of climate change means that in Britain our definition of native and nonnative (one that seeks to freeze our flora into what it was like many thousands of years ago) is looking more irrelevant by the day. Only humans make weeds. Nature abhors a vacuum. Bare soil exists rarely in nature, yet we strive to create it by ploughing, digging our gardens and constructing buildings and roads. If we hadn’t created these ecological vacuums, these empty spaces, there wouldn’t be nearly so many weeds. They are simply trying to heal our scars on Mother Nature’s green skin. About the Author: Gareth Richards is Digital Features Editor at RHS and delivers the RHS podcast. Gareth has provided horticulture expertise for a leading nursery, the BBC, ITV and Bauer Media. The Royal Horticultural Society is Britain’s premier gardening charity, promoting horticulture and helping gardeners by providing inspiration through its shows, gardens and expertise. RHS Weeds - The Beauty and use of 50 vagabond plants is published by Welbeck APT Group Services Ltd Bee iinspiireed www.aptgroupservicesltd.co.uk 01380 711781 40 | www.minervamagazines.co.uk
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Page 3 and 4: Contents A Note from the EDITOR 20
Page 5 and 6: TAILORED HOME INSURANCE RIGHT DOWN
Page 7 and 8: 200623 - Cheverell Ad A5-aw.indd 1
Page 10 and 11: 10 | www.minervamagazines.co.uk
Page 12 and 13: HIS SUSTAINABLE BREAD HOUSING DEVEL
Page 14 and 15: On his baking classes for children:
Page 16 and 17: WILTSHIRE BEER & SPIRITS HANDCRAFTE
Page 20 and 21: COMFORT When the darker nights set
Page 22 and 23: COLOURFUL, QUIRKY, ON-TREND and UNU
Page 24 and 25: Images courtesy Rachel Oates No dog
Page 26 and 27: TONIQ On Demand ADVERTISING FEATURE
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Page 30 and 31: An enriching life like no other Whi
Page 32 and 33: ADVERTISING FEATURE MEET THE HEAD W
Page 34 and 35: ADVERTISING FEATURE Breadth v Depth
Page 36 and 37: THE VIEW FROM THE BOUNDARY We catch
Page 38 and 39: MARK CHICK, MANNINGFORD CROFT It’
Page 42 and 43: IT’S A SUSTAINABLE HOUSING DEVELO
Page 44 and 45: DeFroscia Close, Calne Beautiful 2,
Page 46 and 47: you talk to in the industry says th
Page 48 and 49: TO WILTSHIRE'S WELCOME FABRIC STOCK
Page 50 and 51: Trends for Autumn... Is it really t
Page 52 and 53: THE HOME hit list JOBS TO TACKLE TH
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Marlborough Living Sep - Oct 2021

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