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China Girl blog 19th March 2020

Wonderful to watch in March, the mad March hares; this is when the female hares energetically resist the advances of male hares. The best place to see them is in the arable fields, which at this time of year are short, so easier to spot their antics. Ma wonders if they eat as much grass as rabbits, for rabbits eat as much grass as one sheep; we do not want even one in the garden, nibbling the new young shoots of our plants. Squirrels, rabbits and moles are the pain of our lives, we wage an endless battle to keep them from the garden, along with humans, who pinch cuttings!

Our lovely native daffodils Narcissus pseudonarcissus is pretty pale and delicate; known as the Lent Lily, and once known affectionately as the daffydowndilly. So much more delicate than the rows of large bright yellow daffodils which are over-planted everywhere. The charming Lent Lily was once seen in drifts on verges, tossing their heads in the march breeze.

Ma says if we can’t mow this week, it’s been so wet; the mower sinks into the lawns. She threatens to get a goat or some guinea pigs to eat down the grass, but her memory of her Mother’s goat, which was found upstairs in the house eating the newspaper in the fireplace, puts her off!

Flowering under the mulberry tree in the courtyard, the blue and white grape hyacinths add a haze of charm to the grey days. Also, just coming into flower, the Chilean glory vine Eccremocarpus, growing up to twelve feet in a sheltered spot. It is very easy from seed, sown in the spring it will flower later in the season.

What a winter it has been, only to be followed by the awful Corona virus. As from this weekend, Mother is having to isolate herself. Happily, we have the garden which will be kept open, although the house will be closed.

Please support us by coming to the garden.

In the words of Sir Winston Churchill during the war, “KBO”

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