Ornamental purple plum

Ornamental purple plum trees are at their peak early in the month. Delicate pale pink blossom feathers the branches like a dusting of rose-tinted snow. They give way to dark maroon leaves, and the show is over.

The small tortoiseshell butterfly

All manner of insects will be on the wing. A commonly observed butterfly is the small tortoiseshell. It has orange and dark brown wings, bordered on the back-facing edge with eye-catching half moons. They will be laying eggs on the underside of nettle leaves as May approaches, which will hopefully lead to a new small tortoiseshell generation around midsummer. Fine weather is often the order of the day if butterflies are visible doing their rounds before nine o’clock in the morning.

Salsify

Salsify grows wild in Britain as Trapogon pratensis, commonly known as Jack-go-to-bed-at-noon. This descriptive name refers to the yellow daisy-like flower. It is borne on a slender, grass-like stalk, opens early in the morning throughout high-summer and closes by noon. It sets seed by forming a ‘clock’ similar to a dandelion, only bigger and with chunkier seeds. They are spread via the wind, carried away with the aid of a parachute comprising a disc of feathery hairs.

In olden days the root of this plant was boiled in milk and given as a tonic to folk who were recovering from illness. The cultivated salsify differs only in that the delicate bloom is purple.

Scorzonera

Scorzonera (Scorzonera hispanica) heralds from Southern Europe and the Near East. Its widespread status can be attributed to the Spanish who exported this impressive root vegetable far and wide. The name scorzonera comes from Old French, which was the spoken language a thousand years ago of northern France, Belgium and Switzerland. It means snake. The long, black tap root is indeed serpent-like, and traditionally this plant was used to treat snake bites. Other names include black oyster plant, Spanish salsify, serpent root, viper’s grass.

Scorzonera is a member of the family of flowers which includes the aster and is frequently represented in gardens by the Michaelmas daisy. It is also a favourite food-plant of a common resident moth known as the nutmeg (Discestra trifolii). The adults of this insect are superficially just earthy-brown in colour, but close inspection reveals a wonderful array of patterns and marbling. There are generally two generations on the wing in the south, in early summer and early autumn, with a mid-summer performance north of the Midlands. Night-flying adults are attracted to nectar-rich flowers, sugar and light. As juveniles the larvae are called clover cutworms. Later broods will over-winter in the topsoil, within a delicate chrysalis. These may be turned up whilst harvesting scorzonera roots throughout winter.