Diary: April 2003

I paid a very brief visit to the National Wildflower Centre at Court Hey Park, Knowsley, Liverpool today. I didn't have time to look around the grounds and facilities, but I bought a number of nursery-grown plants from the shop. The National Wildflower Centre is an impressive, modern £4million complex founded by Landlife; promoters of wildflower habitat regeneration. I was left whishing that I had more time to explore the centre fully - I will definitely be going back there later in the year.

I bought some cuckoo flower (Cardamine pratense), garlic mustard (Alliaria petiolata) and lesser celandine (Ranunculus ficaria). I planted the latter two at the base of the new hedge which surrounds the pond and the cuckoo flowers near the pond itself. I also bought some teasle (Dipsacus pillosus) which I planted at the back of the new butterfly-border adjacent to the pond.