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21.03.24 The British Giants
The start of our orchid season is still at least a month away, but on the 16th of March I was fortunate to be able to go on an outing to...
anthonyheys2
Mar 21, 20242 min read


29.02.24 Heath Spotted Orchids
It is Leap Year’s day and we are emerging from a mild but very wet winter in West Sussex. Gardening is impossible; the lawn and both...
anthonyheys2
Feb 29, 20242 min read


26.1.24 The Joy of Chalk
Many U.K. hardy orchids love growing in alkaline soils above chalk or limestone. So it follows that every hardy orchid and garden meadow...
anthonyheys2
Jan 26, 20242 min read


22.12.23 The Bug Orchid
Red is a Christmassy colour (robins, Santa, etc) so I am using this as a thin excuse to talk about a red, or at least dark carmine-red,...
anthonyheys2
Dec 22, 20232 min read


27.11.23 Fungi on meadows and lawns
With the weather still mild, and following all the recent relentless rain, an interesting scatter of little fungi has appeared on the...
anthonyheys2
Nov 27, 20231 min read


20.10.23 Marsh Helleborine (Epipactis palustris)
In deepest October not much of interest is happening on the wildflower meadows, so time for some out of season reminiscence. A hardy...
anthonyheys2
Oct 20, 20232 min read


26.09.23 Autumn Lady's-Tresses
The orchid season is pretty much over now for this year. If you discount the Ghost orchid (Epipogium aphyllum), which anyhow may be...
anthonyheys2
Sep 26, 20232 min read


14.08.23 One man went to mow
I have just finished cutting down both Front and Back meadows for this year. There were still a few colourful Knapweeds and Wild carrots...
anthonyheys2
Aug 14, 20232 min read


14.07.23 July Meadows
The exuberant height of meadow flowering may have passed now, in mid July, but there is still plenty of interest as we go into the last...
anthonyheys2
Jul 14, 20232 min read


27.06.23 And another thing....
I forgot to say in the previous blog post do e-mail me if you have any orchid or meadow thoughts, questions, comments, stories, or need...
anthonyheys2
Jun 27, 20231 min read


27.06.23 Pyramidal Surprise
We have been away for a few days and came back to find this Pyramidal orchid (Anacamptis pyramidalis) flowering on the front meadow. It...
anthonyheys2
Jun 27, 20231 min read


13.06.23 Dactylorhizas peaking
Though there are still a few lower areas of sward, both front and back meadows have grown to a great height, due mostly to Oxeye daisies...
anthonyheys2
Jun 13, 20231 min read


25.05.2023 Yellow Meadow
The meadows have grown rapidly in the last 2 weeks or so, perhaps due to the generous amount of rain we had over winter, and are now two...
anthonyheys2
May 25, 20231 min read


Flowering orchids of May 11.05.2023
There have been three Green-winged orchids (Anacamptis morio) flowering nicely on the back meadow, just past their peak now. All are...
anthonyheys2
May 11, 20231 min read


26.04.2023 First flowering orchid
Yesterday I noticed a tiny glint of colour in the back meadow and found this Green-winged orchid (Anacamptis morio). It is the first...
anthonyheys2
Apr 26, 20231 min read


Self-seeded orchids
17.04.2023 Now that we are finally emerging into better weather in mid April, there have been exciting developments on the meadows. The...
anthonyheys2
Apr 17, 20232 min read


Cowslips and Fritillaries
31.03.23 It is the end of March and our garden, like most I suppose, is still cold and sopping wet underfoot from all the rain of the...
anthonyheys2
Mar 31, 20232 min read


A new meadow season begins
27th February 2023 It is late February and still too cold for much growth on the wildflower meadows, but there are one or two harbingers...
anthonyheys2
Feb 28, 20232 min read


Sussex Bee Orchids
At this drab time of winter it’s nice to think back to the orchid highlights of last summer. In June I was very privileged to be invited...
anthonyheys2
Jan 30, 20233 min read


Filming for Gardener's World
Gardener’s World came to our garden on 20th May this year to film a short feature on my hardy orchids and wildflower meadows. It is due...
anthonyheys2
Dec 1, 20221 min read
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