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~ a celebration of nature

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Category Archives: flowers

61/366 Lilac and yellow

01 Sunday Mar 2020

Posted by sconzani in flowers, nature, wildflowers

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

#WildflowerHour, British wildflowers, Dog violet, primrose, Winter aconite

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.

200301 winter aconite

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).

200301 early dog-violet

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.

200301 primrose pink variety

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48/366 First Coltsfoot

17 Monday Feb 2020

Posted by sconzani in flowers, nature, spring

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

British wildflowers, Coltsfoot, Spring colour, Tussilago farfara, yellow flowers

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!

200217 coltsfoot (1)200217 coltsfoot (2)200217 coltsfoot (3)

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33/366 This week in wildflowers

02 Sunday Feb 2020

Posted by sconzani in flowers, nature, wildflowers

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

#WildflowerHour, British wildflowers, winter colour, winter 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.

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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.

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30/366 Fascinating fasciation

30 Thursday Jan 2020

Posted by sconzani in flowers, nature, wildflowers

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

British wildflowers, dandelion, dandelion flower, fasciated, fasciation, wild words

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.

200130 fasciation (1)

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.

200130 fasciation (2)

I couldn’t resist the alliteration in the title as my spellchecker kept changing fasciated to fascinated – what a difference an ‘n’ makes!

200130 fasciation (3)

 

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28/366 Blossoming Blackthorn

28 Tuesday Jan 2020

Posted by sconzani in flowers, nature, winter

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

blackthorn, Blackthorn blossom, Cosmeston, Cosmeston Lakes Country Park, Spring blossom

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.

200128 blackthorn (1)

In fact, the brown branches and twigs were dotted here and there with white buds and occasional fully open blossoms. Spring is coming!

200128 blackthorn (2)
200128 blackthorn (3)
200128 blackthorn (4)
200128 blackthorn (5)
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26/366 Three-cornered leek

26 Sunday Jan 2020

Posted by sconzani in flowers, nature, wildflowers, winter

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

Allium triquetrum, British wildflowers, Onion weed, Three-cornered leek

200125 three cornered leek (3)

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.

200125 three cornered leek (2)

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.

200125 three cornered leek (1)

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22/366 First Snowdrops

22 Wednesday Jan 2020

Posted by sconzani in flowers, nature, wildflowers, winter

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

British wildflowers, Eirlys, signs of spring, snowdrop

I saw my first Snowdrops of 2020 today in Cardiff’s Bute Park.

200122 snowdrops (1)

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!

200122 snowdrops (2)

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356/365 Winter solstice wildflowers

22 Sunday Dec 2019

Posted by sconzani in flowers, nature, plants, wildflowers, winter

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

#WildflowerHour, #winter10, British wildflowers, wildflowers in bloom, winter wildflowers, winter-blooming wildflowers

It may be the shortest day of the year but I’ve found more blooming wildflowers this week than in the previous weeks of wildflowerhour’s winter 10 challenge. Here we have: a Buttercup species; Daisy; one of the many Dandelion species; Hemlock water dropwort; still quite a bit of Herb Robert about; Ivy-leaved toadflax is flourishing in the wet weather; a Knapweed; a lovely surprise, a couple of plants of Musk mallow; Oxeye daisy; plenty of Petty spurge; surprisingly, a few Primroses already in flower (though most partly eaten); Common ragwort; Red clover; quite a lot of Red valerian; what I assume is Sea radish; plenty of Shepherd’s purses; one of the Sowthistles; Violets – sweet, I think; a Thistle species; White clover; an umbellifer which I think is Wild carrot; quite a lot of Winter heliotrope in flower now; Yarrow; and, a bright burst of Yellow corydalis.

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191222 hemlock water dropwort
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191222 red valerian
191222 sea radish
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342/365 Winter 10, again

08 Sunday Dec 2019

Posted by sconzani in flowers, nature, plants, wildflowers, winter

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

#WildflowerHour, #winter10, British flora, British wildflowers, wildflowers in bloom, winter wildflowers

Though my title is ‘Winter 10’, I’ve actually found 18 wildflowers in bloom during this week’s meanderings. They are: Bittercress species, Black nightshade, Bristly oxtongue, Daisy, a Gorse species, Groundsel, one of the Hawkbits, Herb Robert, the invasive Himalayan balsam, still one flower of Meadow crane’s-bill, Petty spurge, Common ragwort, Red clover, Red valerian, one of the umbellifer species, Winter heliotrope (this bud is not quite open but I couldn’t reach the one that was), and Yarrow.

191208 bittercress sp
191208 black nightshade
191208 bristly oxtongue
191208 daisy
191208 gorse sp
191208 groundsel
191208 hawkbit sp
191208 herb robert
191208 himalayan balsam
191208 meadow cranes-bill
191208 petty spurge
191208 ragwort
191208 red clover
191208 red valerian
191208 umbellifer sp
191208 white deadnettle
191208 winter heliotrope
191208 yarrow

My apologies for the sometimes blurry images and my fingers appearing in some shots – it’s been a week of frequent gusty winds and rain, not conducive to macro photography.

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297/365 Flowering on the zigzag

24 Thursday Oct 2019

Posted by sconzani in autumn, flowers, nature, wildflowers

≈ 9 Comments

Tags

autumn colour, autumn flowering wildflowers, British wildflowers

191024 zigzag wildflowers (13)

Everything was dripping today as my little bit of south Wales was cloaked in heavy fog. I headed down to Cardiff Bay hoping some interesting birds might be sitting out the murkiness but, if they were, I couldn’t see them. Plants were easier to spot so, as I walked back home up the zigzag path, I kept an eye out for which wildflowers were still in bloom. I was pleasantly surprised with the numbers I found, and the water droplets added a pretty touch to some of my photos, I think.

191024 zigzag wildflowers (1)
191024 zigzag wildflowers (2)
191024 zigzag wildflowers (3)
191024 zigzag wildflowers (4)
191024 zigzag wildflowers (5)
191024 zigzag wildflowers (6)
191024 zigzag wildflowers (7)
191024 zigzag wildflowers (8)
191024 zigzag wildflowers (9)
191024 zigzag wildflowers (10)
191024 zigzag wildflowers (11)
191024 zigzag wildflowers (12)
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About me

sconzani

sconzani

I'm a writer and photographer; researcher and blogger; birder and nature lover; countryside rambler and city strider; volunteer and biodiversity recorder.

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