Category Archives: flowers

Variations on a theme

30 Sunday Jun 2024

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Presumably because of our very wet Spring, the orchids are enjoying a magnificent season hereabouts, with more Bee and Pyramidal orchids than I’ve ever seen before. The beautiful blooms collaged below were all growing within a metre of each other at a local park and, in theory, they’re all Common spotted-orchids. You can see what a wide variation of hues and patterns they exhibit, though I suspect a couple of these may have a few grains of Southern marsh-orchid mixed in to their DNA. Both species grow at this park and are known, sometimes, to cross-pollinate.

240630 common spotted orchids

Just peas, no carrots

19 Sunday May 2024

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The challenge for the regular Sunday night 8-9pm Wildflower Hour (#WildflowerHour on most social media platforms) this week was to find flowering members of the carrot and pea families (#CarrotsAndPeas). I decided, for no particular reason, to stick with the peas, the Leguminosae, and here they are …

240519 birdsfoot trefoil and vetchling grass

Common bird’s-foot trefoil and Grass vetchling

240519 broom and gorse

Broom and Gorse

240519 clover red and white

Red and White clover

240519 medick black and spotted

Black and Spotted medick. These look very similar so you need to check the leaves: Spotted medick has splotches on its leaves, while the leaves of Black medick have no marks but have tiny points at their ends.

240519 vetch bush and common

Bush vetch (top) and Common vetch (bottom). I’m a bit confused about the white-flowered vetch in the centre – is it Bush or is it Common? I’ll ask the experts on tonight’s Wildflower Hour.

Yellow flag irises

12 Sunday May 2024

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Until this last week of hot dry weather, this large clump of Yellow flag irises (Iris pseudacorus) had its roots in a pool of water, their preferred habitat, the leaves looked lush and verdant, the flowers sunny and glorious.

240512 yellow flag iris (1)

These plants can withstand quite dry conditions, but, as I write this late Sunday afternoon, we have constant thunder and torrential rain, so I think their feet will be damp once again and the irises will be looking lovely for some time yet.

240512 yellow flag iris (2)

Red-flowered Cowslips

05 Sunday May 2024

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240505 red-flowered cowslips (1)

I wish I’d found these for #WildflowerHour’s recent Cowslip challenge: a small number of red-flowered Cowslips amongst a sea of yellow at Cosmeston Lakes Country Park. This is a natural variation, just like the occasional pink-flowered Primroses you might see growing in the wild, though I’ve only ever seen these at Cosmeston.

240505 red-flowered cowslips (2)

White-flowered Herb Robert

28 Sunday Apr 2024

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I’m sure most of you are familiar with Herb Robert (Geranium robertianum), a very common wildflower that can found everywhere from pavement edges to woodland rides, from the southern coasts of England and Wales to Scotland’s northern isles (you can see the 2020 Plant Atlas distribution map here).

240428 herb robert

What I had never seen until very recently was the attractive white-flowered variety of Herb Robert, this one growing alongside a well-trodden path come side road in Cardiff Bay. I don’t think this is a native variety as the Plant Atlas mentions that ‘White-flowered forms, in particular, may be deliberately grown in gardens and sometimes escape’. Though this location is surrounded by multi-storey apartment blocks, I guess the seed must have blown in from somewhere.

240428 herb robert WHITE

Orchids are go!

22 Monday Apr 2024

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It feels like true spring now – migrating birds rolling through, several butterfly species out and about, first damselflies flitting through the air, and now the first orchid of the season is in bloom. I hadn’t thought I’d find any orchids during my woodland walk yesterday so seeing several spikes of Early-purple orchid (Orchis mascula) was a real treat.

240421 early purple orchid

WildflowerHour: Tree flowers

14 Sunday Apr 2024

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The challenge for this week’s #WildflowerHour on social media was to find as many tree flowers as possible. Here’s my contribution …

240414 ash birch blackthorn

Ash, Birch (not sure which species), and Blackthorn

240414 cherry laurel hawthorn

Cherry laurel (probably a garden escape) and Hawthorn

240414 maple field norway ornamental cherry

Field and Norway maples, plus I couldn’t resist adding an ornamental Cherry in to the mix, as they’re looking so gorgeous at the moment.

240414 willow female male

Goat willow, I think, female above and male below – Goat willows are dioecious, i.e. male and female flowers are on separate trees.

Dandelions and friends

07 Sunday Apr 2024

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I missed celebrating National Dandelion Day earlier this week so today’s wildflower post focuses on the wonder that is the Dandelion and the many insects that rely on its early source of nutrition. This little group of photos also includes my first Small white butterfly of the year, found on Friday.

240407 dandelions and critters

The white wildflower challenge

24 Sunday Mar 2024

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As I mentioned yesterday, this week’s #WildflowerHour challenge on social media was to find native and/or naturalised white-flowered wildflowers and, by walking around with my eyes engaged in a weird version of vertical tennis spectating (eyes to the ground for plants, eyes to the skies for birds – not recommended!), I managed to find seventeen white-flowering plants.

I felt the lushness of Daisies (above) deserved a photo all of its own. The following sixteen are Bramble, Common chickweed, Common mouse-ear, Common whitlowgrass, Cow parsley, Danish scurvygrass, Garlic mustard, Hairy bittercress, Hogweed (purple edged but mostly white), white-flowered Red valerian, Shepherd’s-purse, Snowdrop, Sweet violet, Three-cornered leek, Wild garlic, and Wild strawberry.