Skip to content

Dogwooddays

Life, Nature and the Garden

Home
About
Publications
Gardening
GYO
Unusual Crops
Foraging
Plot to plate
Cutting Patch
Flowers
Design
Kids
Sustainable/Community
On The Wild Side
What’s In A Name?
Write Plant Write Place

Tag: Nigella

Wordless Wednesday

June 7, 20172 Comments

IMG_20170605_200137_776

Started botanical drawings and watercolours a few months ago. Absolutely loving it!! 😊

Wordless Wednesday

June 22, 2016July 11, 20164 Comments

IMG_20160619_204441

Another Nigella – this week it’s Nigella papillosa ‘African Bride’

Wordless Wednesday

June 15, 2016July 11, 2016Leave a comment

IMG_20160615_075650

Such intricacies on this delicate Nigella

Dogwooddays Blog

Hi, thanks for visiting the blog. I’m Nic – a garden and nature writer based in Hertfordshire. I’m also a peat-free gardener, keen birdwatcher, inveterate bookworm and mum to two budding growers. Join me as I follow my crops from plot to plate, explore new plants and share the wonder and beauty of the nature world…

Follow Me

View mydogwooddays’s profile on Facebook
View @nicmama’s profile on Twitter
View dogwooddaysgardener’s profile on Instagram
View nic3858’s profile on Pinterest
View 103279111525133735112’s profile on Google+

Categories

Categories

Search for:

Instagram

I called my blog 'Dogwooddays' in celebration of those magical winter moments when fiery cornus stems set the borders alight. The epitome of light in the darkness, its hard wood possibly led to both Latin and common names: 'cornus' from Latin for horn, as its wood is as hard as horn, and dogwood from dagwood/dagtree - the hard wood used for daggers or butchers' skewers, from 'dag' - to pierce or stab.

So chuffed to have the opportunity to write about the place of gardens in the wider & wilder landscape in December's RHS The Garden magazine. Writing about an issue that means so much to me has made my year!

Flames licking round the shed - self-seeded, fan-trained cotoneaster and self-suckered Midwinter Fire.

Hour off from board games, pie baking and assorted family activities to spend dusk at the foot of the black poplar listening to the bubbling Ashbrook and other almost imperceptible crepuscular sounds as the field margins fade to night.

Out among the beeches in Letchworth. In the face of their warm marcescence all the surrounding trees seem gappy and stick-thin. The word that lingers on my tongue? Butterscotch.

The Ubatuba and Aji Bolsa de Dulce still think it's mid-September...

Last of the summer tomatoes...

Wow! So pleased to have been shortlisted for the Beth Chatto Environmental Award by the @gdnmediaguild for my piece on peatbog restoration, to help ecosystems that support birds like this beautiful golden plover.

Follow me on Twitter

Facebook

Facebook

Follow Dogwooddays on WordPress.com

Follow Blog via Email

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Top Posts & Pages

Save Our Rainforests: The Peat-Free Nurseries List
12 Practical Ways To Create A Modern Kitchen Garden
About
Clematis ‘Belle of Woking’: An Unusual History
7 Best Alliums To Plant This Week
How to Engage Kids in a Small Family Garden Part 1: Building a Willow Den
How Our Love Of Gardening Began - With Thanks
Humphry Repton: Art and Nature for the Duke of Bedford
My Garden Right Now In Pictures
Allotment 96B: The Unusual, the Innovative and the Just Plain Weird...

My Favourite Blogs

Nature Notes

Nature Notes. December 1, 2019
Old Gods & Raven Calls. These winter days, we become crepuscular. Sometimes it feels that, outside, only the glow from big round hazel leaves, or the gold flare from a little quince tree in the hedge, with its hard, yellow-green fruits, provides the only natural light. Like a stored memory; a facsimile of sunshine, a … Continue reading Nature Notes.
nicolawriting

Landlines: Nature Writing

‘A Year in Kingcombe’ by Anita Roy October 30, 2019
Today’s guest blog comes from one of the finest new voices on the British nature writing scene, Anita Roy, with extracts from her wonderful account of a calendar year at Kingcombe in Dorset. First published month by month in Little Toller’s online nature journal The Clearing , the diary quickly gained a devoted following. It is now […]
carminamusic

The Unconventional Gardener

Space to Grow December 11, 2019
While Ryan works on his workshop, I ponder how to build a greenhouse on Mars.
Emma

Gardens, Weeds and Words

Day 345: stinking iris December 11, 2019
The leaves of stinking iris Iris foetidissima certainly have a characteristic smell, though not one I’ve ever associated with roast beef…
Andrew O'Brien

Mark’s Veg Plot

Shutting up shop for Winter October 12, 2019
I haven't posted anything here for ages, so you probably guessed this: I'm shutting up my blog for the Winter.My garden looks bedraggled and messy at present, and there is very little for me to write about. Who wants to see photos of my last few tomatoes, still holding out against the encroaching Blight?My remaining cucumber plants are still produc […]
noreply@blogger.com (Mark Willis)

Blog Stats

49,400 hits

Disclaimer

Nic Wilson and Dogwooddays do not take any responsibility for any adverse effects from the use of plants. Always seek advice from a professional before using a plant medicinally. Always ensure it is legal to forage and where identification is concerned, if in doubt, leave it out.

Copyright Notice

© Nic Wilson and Dogwooddays, 2018. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Nic Wilson and Dogwooddays with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

Click here to read the Privacy Policy

Blog at WordPress.com.

Post to

Cancel

Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use.
To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here: Cookie Policy