NOTES from a. botanical world // June
Connect with nature, the seasons, and your wellbeing with a monthly round up of NOTES from a. botanical world from nature and gardening writer and author Sonya Patel Ellis
Welcome to the June issues of NOTES from a. botanical world, where we find ourselves almost halfway through the year and yet it feels as if it has only just begun. Let us hope that we have a few months of continuous solar-powering now and time to watch the flowers grow with shoulders at ease and sighs out. The Strawberry Moon this Saturday 3 June is all about abundance and fertility so let’s make the most of its energy. Not quite so powerful as 1967’s Summer of Love, when full moon and solstice aligned (which, after a recurring alignment in 2016 won’t happen again until 2062) but all part of nature just the same.
My garden is starting to take shape, with blooms of foxglove, borage, geranium, and fleabane and pots replenished with nutritious new compost (peat free of course) and the beginning of a working herb garden again. There is much structure to create going forward, the challenge of hard landscaping both with a new blank canvas to design but also the installation of the school greenhouse but I am determined to get stuck in. Where there’s a will there’s a way, right, and there’s always help on hand if you ask.
I was reminded of this when I visited a series of community gardens this month including our own wonderful Forest Gate Community Garden, Hackney Herbal and spaces within and around the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. The people who volunteer and visit here all come with their own wealth of knowledge and sharing is half of the reason that they are there, so do tap into these fantastic growing resources.
There are also books to reference of course. This month, my book reviews include one new offering – Garden Style – A Book of Ideas by Heidi Howcroft and Marianne Majerus (Mitchell Beazley, 2023) – which is currently by my bed. But I decided this month’s list would also include the much-thumbed books and guides I have on my desk and kitchen table right now. It’s great looking things up online but gems of ideas more often come to me when flicking through a well-crafted tome. You can also bookmark the pages that you like – remember bookmarks?
Over in the plant kingdom, the specimen of the season for me is cow parsley although it’s hard to talk about it without nodding to its court of wildflowers and grasses that lift my spirits each time I wander up to Wanstead Flats. We liberated the lawn at school for summer and cow parsley has popped up there too. I took Mr Roger Phillips with me to show the kids – courtesy of his Wild Flowers of Britain – Over a thousand species by photographic identification (Pan Books Ltd, 1977) – and they are now converts to old school plant identification pre-Internet style. I love being a school gardener. Result ;-).
School gardening also made it onto the horticultural agenda with a whole garden dedicated to it at this year’s Chelsea Flower Show. I’ve included a round up of gardens included this one by Harry Holding for School Food Matters. Well done for getting the People’s Choice Award in the All About Plants section and for raising awareness about teaching our kids about growing their own food and other plants. It’s fair to say, however, that Sarah Price’s garden inspired by the ‘ghost’ of artist Cedric Morris’ garden at Benton End (the Garden Museum’s newly acquired space for art and gardening) stole the show. A truly enigmatic, artful space. That wall. Those irises. The dark regal aeoniums.
While some were fixated on the Chelsea Weeds, I was looking out for herbs, which is what most weeds are after all including the humble dandelion and many wildflowers found growing on the new mulch, formerly known as rubble. The stand out plant for me was Angelica, which stood majestic in Sarah’s garden for Nurture Landscape’s but could also be found throughout the site. I miss mine and resolve to plant some more this week. In homage to Angelica, this month’s recipe from my book The Heritage Herbal (British Library Publishing, 2020) is Tutti Frutti Ice Cream, which you can make with the tender stems; or try gin-flavoured angelica jam. The flowers and leaves can also be used to garnish cocktails, while the hollow stems work as a fun straw.
Finally, I devoted much of my energy this month to restoring my discipline and resolve post personal upheaval by firing up a new daily writing practice under the guise of Just. NOTES. I’m not sending this out by email as I’m sure you don’t want my ramblings everyday – but saying that if you do want to read or write along just tweak your subscription options by ticking the box for that newsletter too. If I decide to send any of them out, they will come direct to you. I’ve also included some tips on setting up a regular writing practice if this is something that you are interested in. It’s a really worthwhile exercise for writers as a way to express ideas and jot down notes, but it’s also incredibly powerful as a route to improved wellbeing. Not got time? Just write a haiku or make a shopping list.
All this and more is included in my second issue of NOTES from a. botanical world (keep scrolling down folks) and is free to subscribers so please do join my community as I have lots of content to share with you from my books and writings (The Botanical Bible, The Heritage Herbal, The Birdwatchers’ Bible, The Modern Gardener, The Herb Book to name a few), work as a school gardener, writing coach and arts educator, via the wonderful people I meet through editing and commissioning gardening and nature-inspired publications, and just because I’m getting on a bit and I know things. I’ll also be filling my NOTES from a. botanical world borders with lots of exclusive content for paid subscribers so watch this space.
I’d also love to hear NOTES from your botanical world so do get in touch via email (hello@abotanicalworld.com) or Instagram (@sonyapatelellis).
Enjoy the second issue and the weekend and i’ll be back with more NOTES before the next monthly drop in early July.
Sonya X
Herewith ends my NOTES for June. Go forth into your botanical world, and do note me back.