Nuts

This is a charming feature of this botanic garden, but its label has confused me. We are in the garden of Winterbourne House, Birmingham - the home built in 1904 by the Nettlefold family - highly successful manufacturers of screws. The 'Nut Walk' is an 'original feature' of the garden - though its wooden frame has been replaced by a metal one and its nut trees replanted. Depending on your cultural taste, this is a fine example of either a Ship of Thesius or Tigger's Broom. Supposedly, the original was inspired by the legendary garden designer Geryrude Jekyll - there is one in her garden at Munstead Wood in Surrey

The label states that originally it was cobnuts, filberts and hazelnuts, but now it is mainly hazelnuts. There is no commonly accepted absolute definition of these words. Different regions use one or other for the same thing, or for the same nut sold either 'wet' - straight from the tree - or dried. The author of the label knew what they meant

The commentary continues that, between January and March, the trees are festooned with catkins. So they should be - and it must be very spectacular - but winter pruning and training (I think) has left them without any. Hopefully they are set up for catkins in future years. The additional note on the sign, that the catkins develop into hazelnuts, is plain wrong - they release pollen that fertilises the inconspicuous female flowers elsewhere on the branches, and it is these that develop into nuts

There is no mention of the suspended moss-balls, with embedded snowdrops. These might be part of the original design, or a zany modern addition. We liked them

Our visit to the garden was a treat after being entrusted with our grandson for an hour on his own, while mum went to play in a swimming pool. He was charming, cheerful and relaxed throughout, which greatly boosts our confidence. Of course he was carried through the nut walk. I already have a secret plan that, next year, we will walk through hand-in-hand, and there will be catkins