Category Archives: flowers

W is for wildflowers

28 Thursday Dec 2023

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Wildflowers: they brighten dull, grey and rainy days; they encourage me to expand my botanical knowledge, which is much needed; they provide a reason to get out of the house when I’m feeling lazy; they cheer me when the world feels sad, bad and mad. As the year draws to a close, I thought I’d share some wildflower collages from throughout the year, to brighten your winter day (at least, for those of you in the northern hemisphere) and also to encourage you to take part in this year’s New Year Plant Hunt, which is running from 30 December 2023 to 4 January 2024 (details on the Botanical Society of Britain & Ireland website). This first image is from 8 January.

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This second assembly, in the form of a video slideshow, contains the flowers I found during the week ending 26 February, an end-of-winter selection.

Next up, in 3 images, are the many flowers found on 24 September, an early autumn abundance of colour.

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And this final series is very recent – these are the flowers I found during my meanderings for the week ending 17 December, an amazing and most unexpected 31 species. They certainly brightened up the short grey days!

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It’s spring!

22 Wednesday Nov 2023

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Spring? Oh, wait. We haven’t had winter yet. Well, I found my first flowering Primrose – the traditional harbinger of springtime –lurking under the trees and shrubs in the scruffier part of a local park during today’s walk. Although it has been even wetter than usual this autumn, it has been very mild so perhaps that has fooled some plants into thinking spring is just around the corner.

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Hop trefoil

19 Sunday Nov 2023

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At first I hesitated to name this Hop trefoil (Trifolium campestre) as it’s a new plant for me but, when I posted some photos online, I got a thumbs up from a botanist and, looking at the ID guidance on the Naturespot website, I think it meets the criteria:

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Short, hairy, erect plant. Trifoliate, leaflets oval, narrowed towards the base, the central one short stalked. Flowers pale yellow, becoming pale brown eventually, 4 to 5 mm long in small, globose, stalked heads to 15 mm across

And

… Larger and paler than Lesser Hop-trefoil, and turns brownish with age. Both trefoils are similar to Black Medick in flower, but Black Medick leaves are much more hairy and have an apiculate point (i.e a short fine ‘needle’ from the end of the leaflet)

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59!

12 Sunday Nov 2023

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I was surprised at the start of the week to find wildflowers blooming that should long since have gone to seed and that inspired me to see just how many wild flowers I could find during this week’s walks. The answer, of course, is in the title of this post – 59! That is to say, I have 59 images to share but there were a few more plants in flower that I didn’t manage, for one reason or another, to photograph. Some wildflowers were quite unexpected, like the Carline thistle that had one flower open and 3 more buds still to develop; some were abundant, like the Yellow-wort still standing tall in a field at Cosmeston; others, like the Common stork’s-bill, were the last survivors of the strimmers that have been very active this month. Here they all are …

Crane’s-bill vs stork’s-bill

29 Sunday Oct 2023

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It occurred to me today, after seeing both Common stork’s-bill (Erodium cicutarium) and Meadow crane’s-bill (Geranium pratense) still flowering locally, to wonder what the difference is between stork’s-bills and crane’s-bills. According to my Flora Britannica, it’s to do with the length of the birds’ bills, i.e. the seed cases of the stork’s-bills are longer than those of the crane’s-bills. The photos below show the relative differences, Meadow crane’s-bill above, Common stork’s-bill below.

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And because they both have lovely flowers, albeit of very different sizes (Common stork’s-bill is a tiny plant compared to Meadow crane’s bill), here they are, again Meadow crane’s-bill above, Common stork’s-bill below.

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39

24 Sunday Sep 2023

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39. That’s the number of wildflowers I photographed as I wandered around Cosmeston Lakes Country Park yesterday. I was also on the look out for American birds (if you’re not local or a birder, you may not know that there’s been an unprecedented number of American birds found in western parts of Britain after the remnants of Hurricane Lee swept through last week), but the sheer numbers and varieties and colours of these wildflowers were very welcome compensation.

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These beauties are in the order I found them as I walked: Oxeye daisy, Common ragwort, Common knapweed (with unusual contrasting petal colours), Eyebright, Bird’s-foot trefoil, Red clover, Black medick, Agrimony, Wild parsnip, Devil’s-bit scabious, Selfheal, Wild carrot.

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Goat’s-beard, Yellow-wort, Meadow buttercup, Bramble, Creeping thistle, Large bindweed, Great willowherb, Common mouse-ear, Hogweed, White clover, Meadow vetchling, Daisy

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Carline thistle, Scarlet pimpernel, Common centaury, Musk mallow, Flax, Rough sow-thistle, Blue fleabane, Creeping cinquefoil, Mouse-ear-hawkweed, Yarrow, Hemp-agrimony, Common fleabane, Tufted vetch, Spear thistle, Red bartsia.

Theme: #seedheads

10 Sunday Sep 2023

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As mentioned in yesterday’s post, the challenge for this evening’s #WildflowerHour on social media is #seedheads.

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This is a topic I’ve posted about on here many times previously because I admire and enjoy photographing the sculptural aspects and diversity of floral seed heads.

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Some seeds, those with silken, feathery or fluffy attachments, have obviously been designed to be caught and distributed by the wind; others, with tiny hooks or burrs, to be caught on the fur or fabric of passers-by and transported with them to new destinations.

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This week I’ve pared back my photos, turning to black and white and trying to simplify the backgrounds in order to emphasise the shapes and designs of these remarkable seed heads.

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Midweek treat

24 Thursday Aug 2023

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Think of them as a palate cleanser; a floral pick-me-up; a Thursday tonic; a spiralling shot in the arm – the cheerful sight of Autumn lady’s tresses (Spiranthes spiralis) in full bloom amongst the lush grasses and wildflowers at my local country park. I hope you have some growing near you to help brighten your day!

Yellow loosestrife

23 Sunday Jul 2023

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With their roots in the water along the edge of a local canal, these Yellow loosestrife (Lysimachia vulgaris) plants were so exuberant and lush I initially thought they were some other species. They had obviously found the damp niche that suited them best.

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Though I would never advocate the use of herbal medicine (just being cautious about matters I don’t understand or have knowledge of), Yellow loosestrife did, apparently, have a large number of traditional uses as a medicinal plant, from treating diarrhoea and haemorrhaging to cleaning wounds and being used as a mouthwash. And the First Nature website reports on other common uses:

Yellow Loosestrife tied around the necks of oxen was reputed to keep irritating flies away from them. In the distant past these and several other kinds of ‘loosestrife’ plants were also used to get rid of infestations of flies in houses. The plants were dried and burned indoors, and toxins in the smoke drove out the flies (and no doubt also any human occupants).

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