A burn runs along the bottom of our garden. The actual boundary between our garden and the farmland is in fact down the middle of the burn. Sadly, in order to keep the dogs on our land we had to fence off the burn. We had a 4 foot high fence built with 2 feet of trelace on top. About 4 – 6 feet of land is fenced off along with the burn. Our plan is to turn this into a little wildlife sanctury, but also to plant vigorous climbers on the other side to grow through into the garden (the dogs dig up anything we plant in the garden).
In the spring I planted some clematis, rambling roses and honeysuckle to grow through the fence into the garden. We had planned to keep the banks of the burn partially strimmed down to give us access. But the weeds took hold quickly and before we knew it there was a jungle out there. I am so glad we let it grow wild – the entire river bank is now packed full of beautiful 8 feet high flowers. No idea what they are, but here are some pictures along with the resident wildlife.
And of course, we mustn’t forget the other wildlife in our garden:
Those plants are Himalayan Balsam. A bit of a plant pest, to say the least, even though the flowers are quite pretty. It spreads like wildfire and eventually chokes the life out of small waterways.
They have quite spectacular exploding seedpods in the Autumn. You only need to gently brush past the plant to set the whole thing off. Of course, this is exactly how the plant manages to spread so fast.
Thanks Sarah. We have new neighbours next door and he cut his down as soon as he moved in – I now know why. I cut mine down yesterday. But it’s all along the bank of the burn so I guess I’ll just need to pull it up as it starts to grow each year. The bank on the other side of me (farmers land) is absolutely covered in it. I’m sure farmer would let me pull that up too, but there’s just too much. But I guess if I pull it up along the very edge of the water it’ll allow other plants to get a chance. And it does look VERY nice!