December

 We have lots of old apple trees in the walled garden with a lot of mistletoe growing on them. 

This year the mistletoe was getting too dense in the tops of the trees and too high for us to remove. So earlier this year we had a tree surgeon come and remove all the mistletoe that was growing above a height that we could safely collect from our ladders.

There was still plenty left that we could pick.

Each year we harvest some of this and sell it to raise money to give to our chosen charities. 

2024 has been a good year for our mistletoe, lovely big berries and we have raised £140 from the mistletoe so a great boost to our charity donations in January.

I always make my own wreath for the front door, using all materials from the garden.

Here is the 2024 wreath.

This year I used a willow base which I made in a willow weaving workshop the other year.

From the garden I collected; holly, ivy, mistletoe, rose hips, yew, spotted laurel, rosemary, Phlomis seed heads and sedum seed heads. Can you spot them all?

It is the beginning of the snowdrop season now, the first early one I have is Mrs McNamara, she is up and flowering now, will last for many weeks and gradually all the others I have will start to appear.

A great sign of 2025 coming.