As the wet winter months recede into memory, the Tamar Valley in St Dominic is experiencing a vibrant resurgence of life and colour. The landscape, once dominated by the mild gloom of winter, is now alive with the brilliant yellow of daffodils and the delicate pale foam of early fruit tree blossoms, particularly cherry plum or myrobalan. This seasonal transformation draws attention away from the lichens and mosses that flourished during the rainy period, signalling a definitive shift towards spring.
A Historical Orchard Comes to Life
In this steep orchard and encroaching woodland, which served as a market garden until the 1950s, hardy narcissi from that era continue to flower, many still arranged in their original rows and plots. The earliest varieties to emerge include the double Van Sion, known locally as the Lent lily, along with Henry Irving, Princep, Helios, and Carlton. These are gradually succeeded by Victoria, creating a sequential display of blooms. The auditory landscape is equally enriched, with a woodpecker drumming persistently for weeks and the particularly cheering sound of a chiffchaff returning to this partially wooded enclave.
Flora and Fauna in Harmony
On rare sunny days, bumblebees actively seek out the blue flowers of rosemary, while a brimstone butterfly flits across the bright green leaves of poisonous monkshood and day lilies, the latter showing signs of rabbit nibbling. The increasing warmth and height of the sun cast a tracery of tree shadows across the southern slope, highlighting the old magnolia tree. Recently pruned by a local tree surgeon after a large mossy branch split in winter gales, the magnolia is now thick with purple-flushed goblets of light. As the day concludes, the sun sets dramatically in an orange sky, almost due west beyond the clothes line, which remained unused throughout the wet months.
Lanes and Valleys Adorned with Blooms
Narrow lanes throughout the area are adorned with masses of primroses, although plants along hedge bottoms are often eroded or mud-splattered by passing tractors and trailers. Downhill, in the sheltered valley of the Radland millstream, tattered blooms of the Fortune daffodil, an orange-cupped variety, mingle with dog’s mercury, arum (lords-and-ladies), and tarnished hart’s tongue fern. Bluebell leaves and ramsons creep in from old hedge-banks beneath a tangle of slumped branches and uprooted trees, all coated in mosses, polypody ferns, and pennywort. This area is gradually reverting from previous intensive cultivation, potentially evolving into a temperate rainforest ecosystem.
Commercial Shifts in Floral Cultivation
While outdoor daffodils are no longer grown commercially in the parish, the roadside towards Cotehele Quay, overlooking the tidal Tamar, is edged with sprawling daffodils. These were discarded by growers who have now shifted their focus to specialising in eucalyptus foliage for florists and producing strawberries, raspberries, and cut flowers in polytunnels. This change reflects broader agricultural trends in the region, yet the discarded daffodils continue to contribute to the area’s natural beauty, symbolising resilience and adaptation in the face of evolving farming practices.
