These two wood pigeons have taken to my leafless Gleditsia. They sit here no matter what the weather throws at them, preferring it to their normal countryside location – why they don’t seek better shelter during the day, I don’t know. At sundown they disappear, but are back almost at first light next day. I don’t feed them and they do no damage, they just sit together – they chat occasionally, but more often they just sit.
If you see a bunch of bargains in your local nursery or, more often, your local garden centre, give them a good look over and if you can’t see anything much wrong, grab them – I do. I bought a misshapen little Acer “no-name” some seven years ago and gradually discovered an Osakazuki. I now have a beautiful tree that performs every year. The same happened with a camellia – little more than a single stem, but what there was was healthy and for just a couple of pounds I now have a Camellia that flowers reliably every year in early spring. I’m not sure what its name is but I don’t mind that – it’s beautiful and I love it – the only essential with it is to water through the summer, don’t, whatever you do let them dry out or the buds will fall in the spring and you’ll have to wait another year. I always feed mine in spring, when it’s flowered, and replenish the ericaceous compost. Cheapies and freebies may start out in poverty, but with a little training and TLC they do very well indeed.
