Scots pine
Pic of the Week – 22 May 2006 by Mike Clark © 2005 All images are digitally watermarked – please don’t infringe copyright! Mike adds: “There’s…
British Expat Newsletter:
15 December 2004
This week: Christmas trees – not that great if you care about the planet, according to BE gardening expert Mike Clark.
Holly comes out at Christmas!
The problem we have determining the sexes of our hollies goes way beyond the genus Ilex. (cf Holly Aird; Holly Johnson.) I can legitimately use sex…
A pine to piddle against
“In my new garden, which is in fact a piece of wasteland with a fence round it, I have no trees. I possess only a few stunted and windswept hawthorn and elder. Barely half a mile from the Pentland Firth, whence the north wind blows uninterrupted straight from the Arctic Circle, this is not exactly a horticultural paradise.” Mike tells us about one of Scotland’s most distinctive trees – the Scots Pine – and some of its cousins.
Gin, whisky and juniper
“Juniper berries have long been the traditional base for flavouring gin, as you are no doubt already aware. But the connection with whisky… Patience. Let me talk about the plants first.” As the Northern Hemisphere summer draws to a close, Mike mulls over the juniper – a plant with strong associations with log fires and the dram…
The versatile Björk
“Needless to say, like all Scotland’s native trees, birch in the wild has declined markedly over the last two centuries. Considered a “weed” among trees by commercial foresters, birch woodland has been felled and cleared to make way for coniferous timber crops. Yet it is still one our most abundant trees, relatively speaking. ” Mike waxes rhapsodic about a tree you can drink. Tree-hugging? More like tree-glugging!