Excitement, excitement! Both P5 groups, the P6s and the P7s
were here today.
We all got ready for our walk to Woodlands Cottage, on the
road to Chapel Farm.
It took us about 25 minutes of brisk walking (and lots of
talking!) to get to Mr and Mrs McKelvie’s house. When we got there Mrs Mckelvie
welcomed us with squash and biscuits which we ate sitting on the grass. We
asked Mr McKelvie a few questions such as “Why do you like cactus plants so
much”. He said he didn’t really know!
After that we split into wee groups to have a look in the
four greenhouses where Mr McKelvie keeps around 2000 cactus plants and
succulents. Now we know that cactus plants have spikes and succulents mostly do
not. That’s the difference.
There were some we should not touch because it harms the
plants and the plants might harm us. There were plants of all different shades of
green and grey. There were some with lovely flowers and some without.
There was one plant that had been grown from a seed planted
almost 60 years ago. It was over 2 metres tall. And we saw a plant that had a
ring of flowers on it. We could tell the age of the plant by counting the rings
on it above the flowers – there was a ring for each year. The rings were where
the flowers had been each year.
We saw the “nursery” greenhouse where Mr McKelvie made new
plants. One way of doing it is taking a wee bit of an existing plant and
putting the part that had been attached into a sandy mixture where it grows new
roots. Another way was breaking off a “leaf” and leaving it alone for a few
weeks by which time it will have grown roots.
The “nursery” house also had a fig plant growing on the
wall. That green house had been part of the walled garden of Houston House and
the fig tree was quite old. There were figs on it. We heard that the greenhouse
faces south so it gets lots of sun and keeps warm, while the wall keeps the
heat and throws it back into the greenhouse – figs come from hot countries and
need lots of heat to grow and ripen.
Once we had seen all the 4 greenhouses we were allowed to
see the rest of the lovely garden. We heard that the garden had been in shade
till just two or three years ago when a lot of large trees were cut down. That
had let light into the garden and now Mr and Mrs McKelvie could grow lots of different
plants.
When it was time to go we all thanked Mr and Mrs McKelvie
and gave them a “seal of approval”. We also invited them to join us next
Tuesday to see what we had done this year, even if our peas are much smaller
than theirs were!
Then we reluctantly set off for the school again, walking
the mile or so through the village. We passed St Peter’s Well which is in a
field quite near Woodlands Cottage.
We all enjoyed our visit and learning about cactus plants
and the succulents – and think we are very lucky to have a star of “The
Beechgrove Garden” living in Houston and letting us visit his garden.
Our interesting fact this week is that sap from trees does
not freeze like water does. That is because sap is very full of sugar which
supplies energy to the tree. And in the cold, the sugar acts a bit like antifreeze
in a car radiator. Some trees can survive to minus 62oC – pretty
cold!
