This month has exceeded all my expectations, since the wild flower census revealed no fewer than 60 different species! For me, on an area of just 3000 square metres, this is really astonishing! The photo above is of St. John’s Wort (Hypericum perforatum), which seems to be coming in abundance this year, and which is for me the definitive wild flower, full of symbolism, resilient and yet capricious, producing hundreds of tiny seeds per plant, but fussy on where it establishes itself. Named for the Christian saint’s day at the start of summer, it represents long, sunny days and also an aid to good health, since it is an important medicinal plant. To see the full list of this month’s wild flowers, click on the button below.

This morning just happened to be one of those times when I was able to capture a lot going on in the garden. From top left to bottom right, and from left to right:

One of the main reasons for starting a blog is to give a monthly update on the activities of the Sombrun Forest Garden Project. There will be other occasional posts on more technical information such as the biodiversity surveys (see previous post), or discussion of fundamental topics related to forest gardens.

The weather in the first half of April was mostly warm and sunny, although marked at times by a persistent cold easterly wind peculiar to this area of France, while the second half was mostly overcast, with showers and some more persistent rain at times.

Each month I will be doing a census of different life forms in the forest garden. I have started with wild flowers and have recorded 50 different species for April, which is very pleasing. The idea is to compare the censuses over the years to give an idea of the evolution of all the ecosystems in the forest garden, and the evolution of the whole garden.

The Sombrun Forest Garden Project began in 2018 with the purchase of the property, but the idea goes a lot further back than that. At the moment, I am in the analysis and early development stage.

Site analysis and assessment involves the site itself, which is mostly an open meadow, researching elements such as mapping, the local environment, topography, geology, hydrology, climate and so on. Early development includes the management of existing pioneer species and the planting of new ones, including nitrogen-fixers, creating basic infrastructure such as pathways and swales, and producing useful herbaceous species such as comfrey, horseradish and borage.