 |
It is strange how the romance of ideas influences me. I have double Cowslips and red Cowslips and gold laced
hybrids that might as well be Cowslips but it has been some years since I grew any actual Cowslips. One day
I was ambling through a garden centre towards the tea shop (gastro-magnetism) when I passed a tray of
'wildflowers' and was siezed by the need for Cowslips. Scented cowslips spangling a sheep trimmed pasture, cowslip wine and flower fairies sipping dew from cowslip cups. I have no experience of these things but the romance of the idea overtook the need for tea and we all drove home together smiling. John Richards says: "Formerly common in old meadows and pastures in much of England (except the south-west; it is also much more local in Wales, Scotland and Ireland), it became scarcer during the twentieth century through grassland 'improvement' and habitat destruction. Cowslips also suffered from heavy picking, not least for an excellent wine which is made from the flowers. Aftre the 1990's the species has made a notable comeback, largely because its seeds are usually included in 'amenity seed-mixes'. As a result, it is nowadays often seen on road and motorway services, and urban conservation areas, often in large, dense stands." |
|
| 10th March 2013 | ||
