By Victoria Plum
I found a plant with pretty, cut foliage early in the year and let it grow because I was uncertain about what it was. Then I began to suspect, and as the year went on I grew more sure.
Just a few weeks ago the caterpillars convinced me that it is ragwort: lovely yellow flowers and attractive foliage and striking caterpillars as you can see in the photo.
Cinnabar moth on ragwort in my garden. Photo: Tina Sutton
In the shelter and good soil of my garden it has grown to four feet six inches tall, with many branches – a very handsome plant.
When I kept horses I spent as many boring hours pulling ragwort out of my pastures as I spent setting up my mole traps.
I did wreak war on the moles because, apart from the unstable ground that they create with their runs, the molehill soil makes an excellent seed bed. (At Hempton Green, Fakenham, I have seen keen old men harvesting the molehills with shovel and wheelbarrow for their own gardening purposes.)
So I was keen to stop the ragwort seeds, which remain viable for 14 years, and other weeds too from proliferating on my land. I always had a bag of grass seed with me to throw onto the bare soil (the seed, not the bag).
The point I am making here is that in certain circumstances I was keen to get rid of ragwort, but I am happy to let it grow in my garden because without it what would happen to the beautiful cinnabar moth?
At this week’s Reepham & District Gardening Club meeting 45 people heard Paul Laurie from Bird Ventures in Holt tell us about the birds in our gardens; he has more than me.
We enjoyed his clear photos and many interesting facts about the birds we see every day. For instance, siskins have tiny beaks that enable them to pull the seeds from larch cones, and they are so light that they can perch on but don’t break the brittle larch twigs.
I have seen bramblings on Cawston Heath, just one or two, but Paul told us that in Slovakia there are estimated to be roosts of 70 million birds.
The Romans brought little owls here with them because they were under the impression that they would be needed to hunt the cockroaches they thought proliferated in our grubby English houses.
The significant loss of sparrows in the 1970s and 1980s was caused by the birds succumbing to cancer caused by the lead from petrol, so thank goodness my new three-litre 4x4 is diesel.
We look forward to the next gardening club event on Tuesday 15 August, which is the summer show and social evening.
We bring our entries in between 7 pm and 7.30 pm, then we all judge them (very democratic) and sit down with a drink and snacks and perhaps a quiz if we are lucky, and then applaud the winners who also get prizes as well as the glory. It’s light-hearted and fun. Do come.