Taken from Lynne’s weekly column ‘Green Scene’ for the Western Mail
31st May 2025
Cordially Invited
I love making ‘fresh’ cordials with herbs and flowers from my garden. Lemon balm is an all time favourite, with mint being a close second, and of course elderflower and honeysuckle is delicious. Even the ‘weed’ cleavers (also called Sticky Willy) will subtly flavour water. So recently I got a little over- excited to discover Mr Fitzpatrick’s Vintage Cordials.
There are several ‘ranges’ including Fruits and Flowers, with my favourite being Blood tonic with a combination of rosehips and nettles; Lemon, Yuzu and Turmeric and Sour Cherry, Red Grape and Hibiscus – all of which have added health benefits.
Under ‘Roots and Spices’ you’ll include old fashioned favourites like Dandelion and Burdock, Root Beer, Sarsaparilla, Iron Brew and Cream Soda – all of which will take you back to your childhood quicker than a visit to ‘Jehu’s’ in Crickhowell.
All the cordials are made ‘posher’ by adding sparkling water and can be made with hot water too. It actually makes me look forward to those cold winter months!
And if that’s not enough to tempt you, you can also cook and bake with them and use them to make cocktails, jellies, smoothies and iced lollies. They have also encouraged me to drink more through the day and therefore stay hydrated. I never thought I would get quite so excited about ‘squash’ but with flavours like Rhubarb and Rosehip and Raspberry and Lavender, why wouldn’t you.
Rose and Shine
To quote Elvis Costello, ‘It’s a good year for the roses’, with buds and blooms a plenty, but the flowers just won’t last unless the roses are well watered.
I really think that top of the list of things to do, for all keen gardeners, should be to install some form of irrigation system, preferably hooked up to a ‘collected’ water source. A leaky pipe, if used correctly, is the most efficient form of additional watering and should be used on a timer.
My water butts ran dry weeks ago and, as well as obviously being reluctant to use a hosepipe, you really can’t beat good old-fashioned rainwater for the garden.
At this rate rainwater may well become ‘old fashioned’, along with green shield stamps and 2* petrol.
Flaming June
With June about to pull into the station, we now have all the weather statistics for the driest spring since goodness knows when, and the sunniest May since around then too – oh, and the warmest start to the year since anything began. I am a bit sceptical about all the hoo-haa around these figures, but what I do know is that we need rain. More rain – even though we had a ‘token gesture’ for the Bank Holiday and half term – that’s a given. So please make sure that there is always fresh water out for birds and other wildlife and keep watering pots, containers and vulnerable veg.
I think I have mentioned this before but did you know that although when we talk about ‘Flaming June’, meaning the weather for the next month, June originally referred to the woman in the painting by Frederic Leighton, called ‘Flaming June’. The painting depicts a sleeping woman in a bright orange gown, and with flaming red hair, hence the title. One of the interpretations of the painting suggests a connection between sleep and death, a celebration of beauty and sensuality, and a contemplation of the delicate balance between life and death. The oleander branch, known for its toxicity, in the top right of the painting, is supposed to be a symbol of this fragile balance. All very clever and thought-provoking but somehow ‘we’ managed to turn it into a description of midsummer’s weather.
Gardening folklore for June includes advising us to cut thistles down before St. John’s Day (June 24), otherwise ‘you will have ‘two instead of one’. A neighbour has a great method of doing this in his pony paddocks by knocking them off with a golf club. He says he not only gets to practise his swing but it’s a great stress reliever too.
Folklore also warns that a dry May will be followed by a wet June, but I wouldn’t be putting any money on that! And if you enjoy wild blackberries then keep an eye on the weather at the start of next week as it is said that if it rains for the first three days of June(y), the blackberries will be puny. But should the blackberries be bad, take heart, Mr Fitzgerald does a wonderful Blackcurrant and Liquorice cordial.
In a Pickle
Apparently the new food trend is to add pickles to everything. Not only do they add a crunch and certain ‘je ne sais quoi’ to dishes but they are also being used in drinks. I give you ‘pickle lemonade’. Well actually I don’t and wouldn’t, but the ‘culinary innovation’ team at Popeyes, the American fast food chain, spent five years perfecting their recipe for lemonade and pickle brine before adding the electric-green result to their menus.
Disneyland followed with something very similar garnished with a ‘pickle spear’ and allegedly pop star Dua Lipa recently sparked a viral trend on TikTok by creating a cocktail of pickle juice, jalapeño juice and Diet Pepsi. It brings a whole new meaning to the phrase, ‘Getting pickled’, which you probably have to be of a certain age to appreciate!
If You Know, You Nose
It’s the ‘little things’ that seem to bring me the most joy these days.
The stone Gargoyle that has been sitting on top of the stone wall at the entrance to my front yard at the cottage has been there for about 20 years, since we filmed Hot Plots for BBC Wales, in Pembrokeshire.
No one wanted him (as part of the garden makeovers we undertook) so I brought him home. He has slowly aged and become more and more ‘craggy’ and weather-beaten – not unlike myself.
But last week – and unlike myself – I noticed a little alpine growing in one of the ‘deepening wrinkles’ on his nose. I’m sure there is a fridge magnet somewhere that advises us to ‘find joy in unexpected places’, but I didn’t expect it to be on a Gargoyle’s nose.
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