CUCKOO SPIT is everywhere on the tall grasses in a favourite walking wood. It's another name eccentricity from past generations and has nothing to do with cuckoos or spit. It certainly looks like spit – a bubbly, white blob sticking to the grass leaves. The Doyenne, who is a great authority on many matters, thinks it is a deposit left by an insect.
COW PARSLEY is a bit of a botanical misnomer in my view. It doesn't look the least like parsley and the expert opinions I have canvassed doubt whether cows eat it. On the other hand, horses apparently love it. Such a common plant, its white, lacy flowers atop tall green stems appear in neglected corners of gardens, roadsides and the edges of fields.
WHATEVER HAPPENED to fly cemeteries, those delicious, gooey, raisin filled, buttery pastry top and bottom, sugary, cholesterol sins?
RECENT RAIN has produced terrific growth in the gardens and woods, and along the roadside verges. The grass is growing as I watch it. I've had the strimmer out to battle with nettles which are most invasive weeds. I like to keep some nettles in an out of the way corner of the garden because I understand butterflies lay their eggs on the leaves and their caterpillars feed on them.