Dens (various)

When I looked up meanings of ‘dens’ as a word on its own rather than the plural of ‘den’ I found that it referred to a type of fracture, a part of the spinal column, a rare dental malfunction, a flower, some outdoor companies for children or Dundee United’s home ground.

Obviously I went straight to the football connection but found that I didn’t know anything about the team or place other than United’s Dens Park and Dundee’s Tannadice Park, are just 0.2 miles away from each other. That makes them the closest grounds geographically to each other in all of Britain. A fascinating fact but not much to go on.

Fractures and dental problems – no thank you.

Which sort of left a flower i.e. Erythronium dens canis, the dog's-tooth-violet or dogtooth violet, which is a bulbous herbaceous perennial flowering plant in the family Liliaceae, growing to 25 cm (10 in). It is the only naturally occurring species of Erythronium in Europe. Despite its common name, it is not closely related to the true violets of genus Viola.

It’s called dogtooth violet due to the shape of the bulb (as shown above). It has mottled leaves in green, brown and purple and is usually pink/lilac flowered but sometimes they are white. They need good light in the spring though if it gets warm too early the flowers do not last. Some shade from April may then help.

Planting Instructions: The bulbs should be planted 2-3" (5-8cm) deep and 3-4" (8-10cm) apart in a cool, humus rich, well-drained position and will benefit from dappled shade in the spring and a drier rest in deeper shade in the summer.

It will probably surprise you to know that I had to look that description up. But, to be honest, my knowledge of horticulture is limited. It’s actually non-existent. But I do know a bit about the places to go and buy my plants and flowers. I do enjoy a trip to a Garden Centre. Having said that my criteria for the best centres are not primarily to do with the quality, price or range of plants and flowers on display.

Once upon a time Garden Centres were where you went to buy your plants and flowers. Not anymore, and incidentally, as far as I can see the oldest such place still in operation is in Dorset and is called Stewarts and has been going since 1742.

I do like wandering through the doors and feeling the essence of such a place. The various sections where I can wander around looking at interesting stuff such as different types of Wellingtons, various chairs, led lights, a few hundred different senses of diffusers, kitchen ware, farm shop and all those sweaters for cold days on the Prom. Then a stroll outside to look in wonder at some of the worst statuary in the history of the modern world.

But by far the most important part of the Garden Centre is the Cafe/Restaurant. After all that walking (or not) this is the centre of the Centre. If this fails the whole place fails. When they are good they are very good and we won’t mention the one near here that sold a cream doughnut with artificial cream.

Having completed the walk and the meal it is now time to pop back to the plants and flowers before you forget. What was it I was looking for? Oh, yes – Erythronium dens canis.

Garden Centre

Yesterday was your birthday
tomorrow is mine
so today is the day
of our midday treat

but not like last year
when everywhere was closed
so we’d walked the meadows
ruffled by river breezes
under unexpected sun
baffled by trees and plants

but not like last year
this time we’d know the names
we couldn’t go wrong
air conditioned to
cappuccinos and croissants

that eased us to
kitchenware and cards

that eased us to diffusers
and on to a quiche
at the riverside restaurant

that eased our trolleys out
into the farm shop
to wonder at cheese and bread
and weird packets of turnip crisps
that had me baffled
until you found the shelves
of salt and vinegar
and we went home delighted
with our happy birthdays.

Thanks for reading, Terry Q.