golden globes ..

Earlier than in previous years, our winter aconites were in flower along the drive edge on the first day of the year. Distinctive small golden globe flowers with frilly fresh green leaves emerging through the thick mat of sycamore leaves swept to the border from the drive. They are amongst the earliest of our garden flowers to emerge.

Emerging through leaf mould

We planted aconites along the drive border in memory of our friend Sue in March 2014 after her death from cancer. Sues husband Kris joined us in the planting. There had been no aconites in the garden until then and the received wisdom at the time was that the unforgiving substrate would make it difficult for these sometimes temperamental plants to succeed.

Aconites in the snow

After we lost Kris from covid in 2020 we dedicated the aconites to both of them. The aconites, although appearing delicate, were proving tough enough to succeed.

Last year we counted seventy eight flower spikes with many seedlings emerging too. There can be few pollinators on the wing in a miserable January so my guess is that terrestrial insects such as ants or beetles are the pollinators.

Aconite seedlings

Aconites are such a glorious sight as the little yellow bundles of flower form groups under the bare trees and shrubs. The seedlings gave us especial encouragement as it seems that our attempts to establish winter aconites along the drive may be succeeding.

And further reason to remember our friends.