‘Ne’er cast a clout til May be out’…I could explain the origin of this little phrase, but it is done so well here that I shall let you click on the link.
Needless to say I have been casting clouts on and off during March and April. On Saturday in our little piece of Oxfordshire the car thermometer read 27.5 c as we set off up North. Exceptionally warm for April. When packing the Easter Eggs Bunnies I had to put them in a cool box to keep them intact on the journey.
On Friday night I had done that thing which usually induces the rain to fall shortly afterwards…. I had watered the garden. As we travelled I heard on the radio there had been some sudden heavy showers over the South of the UK. Oxfordshire seems to fall into that part of the country which is sometimes the South and sometimes the Midlands. So, had it rained on my garden….? I would have to wait and see.
Driving North from sunny Oxfordshire I noticed that all the horse chestnut trees are blooming with their tall white candle flowers (I didn’t see any of the less common pink ones) – and they seem to have come out overnight. They don’t usually flower yet- not until May.
Horse chestnuts are a common sight – they are a non-native naturalised tree but much loved and considered generally as a ‘British Tree’ by the ‘British Public’. They are much appreciated for their flowers, leaves, height and shape and of course their fruits which have provided a whole lineage of children with a playground game of conkers. However the horse chestnut trees are under threat, and although they all look pretty healthy at this time of year by mid to late Summer signs of their distress are highly visible, with shrivelled leaves and a very sad appearance. There is more than one disease at work here. The first, which I knew about, because it caused the loss of our very own tree, was the Bleeding Canker. Our tree which was only about 20- 30 years old had been planted by previous occupants. It provided a lovely sheltered corner to our garden and we loved it, and became rather concerned when it developed a large split in the bark and a darkened area… and just didn’t look well.
When I got the tree man in he looked very concerned. When I asked him what he would do with the tree if it was one of his he said he wouldn’t risk his family’s lives as I was, by having a hammock and a swing attached to this diseased tree. Apparently diseased trees can suddenly, without warning drop limbs.
The tree didn’t stay much longer after that..
The other problem going on with these trees is Horse Chestnut Leaf Miner which is what gives the leaves an exhausted look by mid-Summer. This shows the distribution over a few years.
Some reports reckon these diseases could have a similar impact on our Chestnut trees as the Dutch Elm Disease had on all the UK elms in the 60s and 70s. Horse Chestnuts are often the tree of choice for lining those avenues of majestic country houses (see here) and they are a common sight in parks and woodlands all over the UK. Let’s hope, fingers crossed and all that, that they will survive.
The journey northwards took the thermometer down more than 10c… by the time we stepped onto the driveway of our destination (about 170 miles later) on the Wirral it was 16c at about 6.30pm and felt quite chilly.
I certainly hadn’t packed quite the right clouts.
Boadicea's Chariot 
Thank you, whoever put in the ‘more’ – I just came back as I remembered I had forgotten it…. If you see what I mean. 🙂
No worries – I often forget it, too. But thanks to the time difference I usually remember I’ve forgotten before anyone sees it. 😎
There are many advantages to living down under.
Odd to think that the Horse Chestnut isn’t indigenous – and sad to see their demise.
Yes, introduced in the late 16th Century –
I really hope that they will survive, too
Horse Chestnuts, well we were having a discussion about these the other day. From where I am typing, during daylight hours, I can see one. It is to my untutored eye, most certainly a Horse Chestnut, but at the moment it is covered with pink candle flowers. Someone asked what it was, and didn’t know they came in pink!
Here in South Oxfordshire we had a tremendous downpour with thunder and lightning. It didn’t make any difference to the garden, we were watering pots and etc the very next day.
Apparently the thunder was heard here, but no rain fell.
“Red horse chestnut- this has pinky red flowers, smaller crumpled leaves and the fruit husk is browner with few spines” – rather pretty aren’t they?
It’s glorious this year, Nym.
And did it suffer later in the year last year with either of the two diseases mentioned?
An they’re all poofdahs in the sarf.
It’s too far away to be certain, Nym; it belongs to a someone two gardens away, but I don’t think it’s been looking good for the last couple of years.
Seems as though the pink one may be more hardy in this case, Ferret.
Furry, how could you say this?
It’s purely accidental that I live here, I was born up north, although not as far north as you are.
Hee Hee Nym,
I am breaking Bearsy’s golden rule. 4 Pints of Savannah Dry and blogging. 🙂
I am going under the knife tomorrow and I don’t care.
Hopefully after the op I will be able to hear again, fingers crossed. 🙂
Minty MBE,
Furry nuff. I knew you weren’t as bad as the rest of those suvvern monkeys. 😉
http://home.howstuffworks.com/ruby-horse-chestnut-tree.htm
This suggests they are less susceptible to disease.
Good luck on the ‘morrow, Furry-ears. 😀
Oh, Furry, I do hope your op goes well. I’ll be thinking about you. xx
No Probs Bearsy,
Its a straight forward procedure, adenoids out, fluid drained and grommets in. General so its an overnight stay. Hospital food yeuuuuch!
Crikey Ferret, don’t get too pissed pre-op! Fingers crossed the op works. What are they goign to do?
Thanks Minty MBE et Nym,
Honestly I am not worried at all except for the tedium and the hospital grub. Still on the upside, I could do with losing a pound or two. 🙂
You may not feel like eating….
let us know how it goes.
BTW I thought I’d look up sweet chestnut too….another introduced tree: would ya believe it?
http://www.british-trees.com/treeguide/sweetchestnut/nhmsys0000456969.htm
The defense rest m’lud.
4 suvvern pints = pissed. 4 norvern pints = breakfast. 🙂
LOL. Good luck Furry One. I think it’s probably more important that the surgeon hasn’t been on the pop.
Nice blog Pseu. I’ve always thought Horse Chestnut flowers are superb and under-rated. Someone ring-barked a young conker tree in our local woodland and I was secretly delighted when it refused to die.
Bless you Jan,
Doesn’t matter if he necks a whole bottle of Glenmorangie, I will be out cold for the whole thing. 🙂
I have a sweet chestnut from a nut I picked up in Canada, also a magnolia from a seed. They grow apace.
Trouble is these days so many goods moving around the diseases come too, the plants don’t have too good a chance.
Growing trees from seed is wonderful, Christina – I have several self seeded yews in my garden which have been carefully transported to new locations, plus holly. The ones I’m less keen on are the elder and wild cherry. The latter is very pretty but its roots seem to throw up suckers all the way through the shrubbery.
Speaking of Horse Chestnuts, I have never played the game of ‘conkers’ not having grown up in the UK. However, I read recently that origin of the word stems from the French ‘conque’ meaning a ‘conch’, as the game was, apparently, originally played using snail shells. Very interesting, don’t you think?
Hmmm, I’ve never heard that before. Thank you Sipu
Wiki says this:
The name may come from the dialect word conker, meaning “hard” (perhaps related to French conque meaning a conch, as the game was originally played using snail shells.[1][2]) The name may also be influenced by the verb conquer, as the game has also been called conquerors, but this may be a back-formation. Another possibility is that it is onomatopoeia, representing the sound made by a horse chestnut as it hits another hard object, such as a skull (another children’s “game”, also called conkers, consists of simply throwing the seeds at one another over a fence or wall). Conkers are also known regionally as obblyonkers, cheggies or cheesers.
I grow lots of trees from seed and then put them on the boundary fences in due course.
Spousal unit curses because he has to mow round them. They absorb noise, the roar of lawn mowers etc, log trucks and general dirt and dust.
Pseu hate to upset the apple cart but the saying does not refer to the month of May, but to the May tree’s flower.
Ne’er cast a clout till the May’s out.
Oops just saw the link,
Note to me, wear your bloody glasses before going on the pc.