Daily details from the garden to bring you inspiration throughout the year
I know we’ve already spoken of the spindle tree (Euonymus europaeus), but having found its empty (for the most part) ornate seed cases on the ground, I couldn’t resist revisiting this most conflicting of plants. An undeniably beautiful part of our rural landscapes as a frequent component of native hedgerows, when exported to North America the European spindle became a troublesome invasive species (happy Thanksgiving, by the way). At home or abroad, every part of the plant is quite toxic, but most frustratingly, it’s a winter host for the black bean aphid. But before you rip it out of your garden, consider that other winter hosts for that particular pest include various species of viburnum, and philadelphus, the mock orange. Are we going to grub all of our shrubs up to avoid having to pinch out our broad bean tips? There’s a lesson here somewhere, for those who have ears to hear. And for those who have eyes to see, there’s still those seed cases... and not a few seedling plants to be potted up.
A year of garden coaching
I’m very excited about my new venture – it’s a way for me to work with more people than I can physically get around to, helping them to make the very best of their gardens in a way that suits the life they lead. If you’d like to find out more, please click here to book for a January 2020 start.
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Hello! I’m Andrew, gardener, blogger, podcaster, and owner of a too-loud laugh, and I’m so pleased you’ve found your way to Gardens, weeds & words. You can read a more in-depth profile of me on the About page, or by clicking the image above.
