May 2025
One of the joys of the Galician countryside in Spring is its variety of wild flowering plants, shrubs and trees. The first to emerge are the green hellebores in February, closely followed by the tiny wild narcisi that line the country lanes and last into April. By then the primulas are out, particularly in damp areas like the grassy verges around La Laguna’s two cattle troughs, and the fields are strewn with buttercups and tiny daisies, as far as the eye can see. By May it’s the turn of huge tufts of cistus, bright yellow and white, and of heathers that turn the hillsides mauve-pink with their abundance. From nearly any vantage point, blossoming plum, crabapple, rowan and chestnut trees can be seen, marking out the old strip field system still so common in this area. On the verges of any really rural road, you can spot twenty culinary herbs in as many paces, as if Culpeper’s famous herbal had come to life.
Having been away for much of this year’s Spring, I’ve caught only the tail-end of all this, and have come back to a garden in which everything needs cutting back, trimming and tidying. The absence of late frosts has meant that everything is burgeoning, from the tiny dog-tooth violets that have spread everywhere, to the wisteria that covers parts of two walls - a splendid flowering, in contrast to last year’s all but negligible showing. Irises and lilacs are still in full bloom, and the herb-bed now boasts the purple pom-poms of spring onions and a McConnell’s Blue rosemary, living up to its name.
The fact that the grass is well over a foot high will not induce me to cut it this week, though. I like to give at least a nod to ‘no mow May’, so mowing can wait until the wild-flowers die back. Thanks to their presence and variety, butterflies and bees abound - though I was glad to see that a swarm of bees attempting to find entry to the roof eventually gave up. Wonder where it came from, and where it found a new home?