Cow Parsley

We began the day with a trip to Ferndene Farm Shop in order to buy compost, cake for this afternoon’s visitors – oh, and trays of trailing lobelia and petunias.

This led to a drive in the forest.

From Forest Road

we crossed into Braggers Lane

alongside which cotton clouds scudded over the landscape.

Thatchers Lane was next. There I noticed several saddles mounted on paddock rails. Aiming to photograph the scene I quickly changed my mind. It did not seem appropriate to advance with a camera when a woman, receiving ministrations from a pair of companions, one utilising a mobile phone, lay on the ground. Instead, I asked if we could be of any assistance. We couldn’t. Help was at hand. The lady had just been “bumped by a horse”.

I settled for images of calmer creatures cropping the field behind.

The Head Gardener is rather partial to cow parsley flavouring sections of our garden. This is not a taste I share, because I fear the kind of takeover our hedgerows are currently experiencing. They do, however, attract bees. I am no doubt influenced by the fact that Jessica, years ago in Newark, scattered seed from local fields around our orchard. It took several years to eradicate the thug.

Margery, Paul, and Jutta visited this afternoon when we spent a very pleasant time in convivial conversation, with our guests suitably admiring the garden.

This evening we enjoyed a second sitting of Mr Chan’s Chinese Take Away, consisting of splendid spring rolls; special rice; special noodles; chicken in black bean sauce; crispy beef; and king prawns and ginger. I finished the Fleurie and Jackie drank Hoegaarden.

47 comments

  1. Hello again Derrick! I like cow parsley for the same reason as your good wife. Though once I knew a fellow who, in order to get rid of an excess in his property, got himself a goat to eat it. You can guess at what happened I’m sure……..

  2. Nice pastoral scenes. And parsleyal one’s too. My husband is like you about Queen Anne’s lace, that beautiful weed that I love.

  3. I hope the lady will be okay, completely okay.

    Love your forest photos! and your cotton clouds photos are beautiful! It’s so wonderful to gaze at clouds and see the “pictures” they create! πŸ™‚

    Visitors AND cake! YAY! A good day! A good day, indeed! πŸ™‚
    HUGS!!! πŸ™‚

  4. Mrs T has gone down the cow parsley road this year but she has been pulling it out as it has finished flowering so we are hoping for the best. I love the cycling between banks of the plant at this time of year so I think kindly of it.

  5. Hi Derrick. I think Cow Parsley is very pretty. I appreciate why you wouldn’t want it all over your garden though … maybe best left in the fields and hedgerows. There’s a cultivated plant that looks similar to Cow Parsley. I think it’s called Queen Anne’s Lace.

  6. I like to see frothy cow-parsley along the hedges and verges but it is much more common than it used to be. A symptom of the excessive amount of of nitrogen being used all over the countryside, cow-parsley and a few other tough plants can cope whereas more delicate wild flowers cannot and are disappearing.

  7. Those shaded paths are soul curry to the parched soul out here where the sun has been notching half-centuries in Celsius as a matter of routine.

    I didn’t know cow Parsley can be such a thug.

  8. Lovely photos, and it sounds like lovely day, too. I didn’t know what cow parsley was, but it’s pretty.
    Your sentence,” Margery, Paul, and Jutta visited this afternoon. . .” sounds like a line from a novel–Jane Austen or something like that. πŸ™‚

  9. Love the ambiance of your forest Derrick, your pics are soothing to the eyes of those unfortunate enough to miss the beauty of such scenery.
    Cheers.

  10. I’ll sleep in my bed tonight, knowing what you picked from Mr Chan’s menu. At last!! xx

  11. I’m assuming the Cow Parsley gets it’s name from being a favourite of the road-wandering cows? πŸ™‚ A little garnish to their usual diet perhaps? πŸ˜‰

    Lovely to see the sunshine highlighting your wonderful photo’s of the surrounding countryside. πŸ™‚

  12. Once I picked cow parsley and made a cordial out of it. In my ignorance, I had thought it was elderflower! Just as well it was cow parsley, which incidentally tasted fine, but I agree that it might not be what you want in your garden. The fennel and caraway are quite enough of the carrot family for me to try and contain.

  13. My horse used to love cow parsley – I think the flower heads were her favourite food. If she spotted any when I was leading her out to the field, she would drag me off my feet making a beeline for it!

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