We had been thinking of ways in which we could improve our garden for wildlife and hatched upon a plan to entice the shy wrens that flit along the hedgerow at the bottom of the garden to adventure closer so that we might see them more often. We had been deliberating on winter-flowering honeysuckle to extend seasonal forage for pollinators so, we were taken in hand by Alys Fowler's Gardening Advice Saturday 26 December about wintersweet and winter-flowering honeysuckle. The read proved a resolute decision-maker... we're sorted.
We chose the more compact Sweetest honeysuckle, Lonicera fragrantissima as we planned to use a 1.8m length of A142 rebar mesh we had left over from a project to build a trellis on which to support it. On Alys's ingenious suggestion we also planted a cultivated blackberry, ‘Loch Ness’ AGM as it is thornless. This will provide forage for the Speckled Wood butterflies that frquent the garden and provide pickings for our favourite recipes. Frankly, we've not foraged for years as we've been horrified by the increasing number of foragers who strip baby buggy loads of pickings from the wild places nearby. We don't want to be seen to be encouraging or endorsing their plunder by picking any for our own consumption.
We would have been even happier if we could have been sure the plants were peat-free.
The box the plants were shipped in has been employed in keeping the kitteh from rain-induced cabin fever by giving her a den from which to scowl at the damp, soggy world yonder.
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