Category Archives: flowers

White-flowered Herb Robert

28 Sunday Apr 2024

Posted by in flowers, wildflowers

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , ,

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

Posted by in flowers, wildflowers

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , ,

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

Posted by in flowers, trees

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, ,

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

Posted by in flowers, insects, wildflowers

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , ,

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

Posted by in flowers, spring, wildflowers

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

, , , ,

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.

A weekend of wildflowers

23 Saturday Mar 2024

Posted by in flowers, spring, wildflowers

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, ,

As this week’s #WildflowerHour challenge on social media is to find white flowers (they will feature in tomorrow’s blog), I thought that today I would post about the coloured wildflowers that have begun to bloom in my local area, so here they are:

240323 wildflowers blue and pink

A quite random combination of Forget-me-not and Cuckooflower

240323 wildflowers bluebells

Both the traditional blue and the pinkish-lilac variation of Spanish bluebells

240323 wildflowers yellows

The yellows: Cowslips and Marsh marigolds and, not really new but beginning to flower in greater numbers now, Dandelions

240323 wildflowers ivy-leaved

Flowers with leaves shaped like Ivy: Ivy-leaved speedwell and Ivy-leaved toadflax

240323 wildflowers geraniums

Members of the Geranium family: Common stork’s-bill, Herb Robert and Shining crane’s-bill

Green-flowered wildflowers

17 Sunday Mar 2024

Posted by in flowers, plants, wildflowers

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , ,

As the Wildflower Hour team wrote on social media when announcing this week’s challenge: ‘Some of the loveliest wildflowers are green! Can you find one for this week’s challenge?’. Well, yes, I can. In fact, I found three on yesterday’s meander, and I’m sure there must be more that I missed. My finds are:

240317 dog's mercury

Dog’s mercury (Mercurialis perennis). I didn’t know until today, when I was reading the First Nature website, that ‘Dog’s Mercury is an extremely poisonous plant and when eaten it has been known to cause vomiting, jaundice and coma.’ Of course, you’d have to be pretty stupid to eat it, but some foragers are pretty stupid!

240317 petty spurge

Petty spurge (Euphorbia peplus), a common sight along the edges of lanes and pavements, and scattered across any patch of waste ground. It’s just getting started again in my area after being knocked back by the cooler winter weather and the interminable rain.

240317 stinking hellebore

Stinking hellebore (Helleborus foetidus). This was a surprise find along a local river embankment and, though Stinking hellebore is a UK native, because of its sudden appearance in that location, I think this particular specimen is probably a garden escapee.

Mid-February winter 10

11 Sunday Feb 2024

Posted by in flowers, trees, wildflowers

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , ,

Despite this having been a very wet week, the temperatures have been quite mild and, in some cases – as with the ornamental Cherry tree outside my flat, for example – I’ve felt like I could almost see the buds fattening. So, it comes as no surprise to me that, this week, I’ve managed to find ten species of wildflower and tree in flower: Alder, Field speedwell, Dandelion, Lesser celandine, Primrose, Wild strawberry, Sweet violet, Common fumitory, Three-cornered leek, and Red dead-nettle.