25 Wednesday Mar 2020
It’s easy to see why water lilies inspired Monet to depict these sublime blooms over and over again, in a series of around 250 compositions in oils – such delicate hues, such symmetrical structures.
My photos are no match for Monet’s impressionistic masterpieces but, really, the flowers themselves are the masterpieces. These were flourishing in a huge public garden in the tropical climate of Singapore.
07 Saturday Mar 2020
Dioecious: adjective; (of a plant or invertebrate animal) having the male and female reproductive organs in separate individuals (Oxford Dictionary).
My example today is the Yew tree (Taxus baccata), which has male and female flowers on separate trees. The male flowers are out now on a couple of trees in my local park – the female flowers may also be out but I didn’t look for them. The males are rather more showy and obvious, especially when they’re not soaking wet and their yellow pollen is blowing in the wind.
03 Tuesday Mar 2020
Roses are red, violets are white
If you’re confused, that’s alright.
Though most violets are usually, well, violet coloured, some can be much lighter shades of lilac and Sweet violets (Viola odorata) also have a white variety. I was surprised and delighted to find good numbers of these gorgeous white beauties growing alongside a local pathway yesterday. In fact, as it’s a route I walk often, I was particularly surprised that I haven’t noticed their presence in previous years.
01 Sunday Mar 2020
Posted in flowers, nature, wildflowers
Rather than a full list of wildflower sightings this week, I’m focusing on just three, this week’s new (to me) blooms. And, in fact, this first wildflower, Winter aconite (Eranthis hyemalis), was a first-ever sighting for me. Originally from southern Europe, this plant is a member of the buttercup family, and, if the database records of this beautiful flower are any indication, it’s a plant that is quite rare in the wild in Wales.
This is a dog-violet, possibly Early dog-violet, though I didn’t take good enough photos of the particular features needed to differentiate the Early (Viola reichenbachiana) from the Common (Viola riviniana).
And, finally, this delightful combination of the two colours of the above blooms, lilac and yellow, a Primrose. Though not the usual cream-coloured flower we most commonly see, this is, I believe, a natural colour variation of the native Primrose, rather than something humans have bred.
17 Monday Feb 2020
A new Spring flower has appeared in my local area, this time six bursts of the bright sunshine yellow that is Coltsfoot, the flower that appears before its leaves. I had just been sheltering, rather ineffectively, from a short sharp shower of rain when I spotted the flowers beside the path ahead of me. What a delight!
02 Sunday Feb 2020
Posted in flowers, nature, wildflowers
These are the blooming wildflowers I was able to find during yesterday’s and today’s local meanders, an impressive total of 21, due to the continuing mild weather we have been experiencing this winter.
They are: Bramble; Comfrey – a nice surprise; Common ragwort (with a bonus Marmalade hoverfly, my first for 2020); a Crocus (probably planted, now wild); Daisy; one of the Dandelions; Gorse; Groundsel; Hairy bittercress; a female Hazel flower – a tree, I know, but I couldn’t resist the dash of pink; Herb Robert; Ivy-leaved toadflax; Lesser celandine – quite a lot of these flowering now; perhaps one of the Hawkweeds; Primrose; Red valerian; Snowdrop; one of the Sowthistles; a Speedwell species, possible Field Speedwell; an umbellifer; and the pretty pink of Winter heliotrope.
30 Thursday Jan 2020
Posted in flowers, nature, wildflowers
I’ve posted about this phenomenon before (see Wild word: fasciated, back in July 2018) but, as some of you may not have been following me back then, I thought it was worth repeating, especially as I’ve found such a magnificent example.
So, this Dandelion stem and flower are fasciated, i.e. both parts of the plant exhibit an abnormal fusion which has resulted in a flattening of their structure. In this particular case, it almost appears as if three separate stems and flowers have fused into one.
I couldn’t resist the alliteration in the title as my spellchecker kept changing fasciated to fascinated – what a difference an ‘n’ makes!
28 Tuesday Jan 2020
Despite being caught twice in freezing hail showers, I had a lovely walk today, and part of the reason is because I saw my first Blackthorn blossoms for 2020. As Blackthorn flowers appear before the leaves (in contrast to Hawthorn, where the leaves appear first), this hedge along the roadside at Cosmeston Lakes Country Park still looks lifeless and barren.
In fact, the brown branches and twigs were dotted here and there with white buds and occasional fully open blossoms. Spring is coming!
26 Sunday Jan 2020
Posted in flowers, nature, wildflowers, winter
In New Zealand we call this plant Onion weed but, here in Britain, its common name is Three-cornered leek. As its scientific name, Allium triquetrum, indicates, this bulbous plant is part of the garlic and onion family, the Alliums, and triquetrum refers to the triangular shape of its flower stem.
In Flora Britannica, Richard Mabey writes that this smelly plant was ‘introduced to Britain in 1752’ and ‘began to escape into shady hedge-banks and churchyards in Cornwall in the 1860s. By the 1930s it was in Devon’ and, in 1995, Mabey found it in the Chilterns, near London. Obviously, it’s spread even further since then, as it’s jumped the border and is thriving here in Wales. These were my first Three-cornered leek flowers for 2020.
22 Wednesday Jan 2020
Posted in flowers, nature, wildflowers, winter
I saw my first Snowdrops of 2020 today in Cardiff’s Bute Park.
Candlemas bells, Mary’s taper, Snow piercer, February fairmaids, Dingle-dangle – all vernacular names for Snowdrops, according to my Flora Britannica. In Welsh, Snowdrop is Eirlys (pronounced Ire-liss), a lovely word that’s sometimes used as a girl’s name. How pretty!
