TODAY'S HEDGEROW HARVEST

We need to be up close and personal to see four of today's contributors - hundreds and sometimes several hundreds of potential plants per species today!

Top Left: Spindle (Euonymus europaea) - these are very unripe but beautifully formed - if fully ripe the bulbous cover of the four orange seeds would be bright pink rather than green.

Top Right: Meadowsweet (Filipendula ulmaria) - in the corner you can see the remaining hint of passing flowers and the seeds themselves are spiralled! - the scent from this plant (leaves stems as well as flowering head) is indeed sweet and (as is well known) Queen Elizabeth I insisted that meadowsweet was strewn around her chambers to overcome the smell of the Thames.

Bottom Left: Dogwood (Cornus sanguinea) - who would expect dogwood fruits to be hairy?!? Very under-ripe again and would be black if at peak condition.

Bottom right: Wayfaring Tree (Vibuurnum lantana) - actually quite close to perfectly ripe (the black ones).