I couldn’t resist sharing the floral delights from my various wanders in the local woodlands during April. I hope you enjoy them as much as I have – the wildflowers have been simply gorgeous!
01 Sunday May 2022
Posted flowers, plants, walks, wildflowers
inI couldn’t resist sharing the floral delights from my various wanders in the local woodlands during April. I hope you enjoy them as much as I have – the wildflowers have been simply gorgeous!
10 Sunday Apr 2022
Posted flowers, spring, wildflowers
inIn which I share a little video of the latest wildflowers to bloom in my neck of the woods …
03 Sunday Apr 2022
Posted spring, wildflowers
inTags
Arum maculatum, British wildflowers, Cardamine pratensis, Cuckoo-pint, Cuckooflower, Lady's-smock, Lords-and-ladies, Milkmaid
The coincidence of the pale and delicate Cuckooflower (Cardamine pratensis) coming into bloom at the same time as the first Cuckoos arrive back from over-wintering in Africa is the likely origin of this wildflower’s common name, though several other wildflowers also bloom at this time and, with the climate changing, the flower’s blooming and the bird’s arrival no longer coincide very precisely. Perhaps the alternate Lady’s-smock and Milkmaid are more appropriate names.
Another wildflower that is known in some areas as Cuckoo flower, as its flowers open around this time, is Arum maculatum. I know it best as Lords-and-Ladies, but many call it Cuckoo-pint (rhymes with mint), for which there is a somewhat more risqué explanation: pint is short for pintle, meaning penis. I’m sure you can all see why.
27 Sunday Mar 2022
Posted wildflowers
inTags
British wildflowers, Lesser Celandine, Opposite-leaved golden saxifrage, Wood anemone, woodland wildflowers
Earlier this week I walked to one of my local woodlands to check what wildflowers were in bloom. The sparse scattering of Wild garlic flowers and just one plant with open Bluebells were a little disappointing but the carpet of lush plants under the trees held great promise of the beauty to come. The Wood anemones, Lesser celandine and Opposite-leaved golden saxifrage were a delight, as were the other wildflowers dotted here and there. I’m already looking forward to my next visit.
21 Monday Mar 2022
Posted birds, wildflowers
inNot a combination you see every day: a Redshank passing some golden Coltsfoot, growing near the river’s edge …
13 Sunday Mar 2022
Posted nature, spring, wildflowers
inTags
British wildflowers, Common whitlowgrass, Erophila verna, signs of spring, sping wildflowers, Spring colour
‘Modestly cheerful’ – this is how Richard Mabey describes Common whitlowgrass (Erophila verna) in Flora Britannica. He continues: ‘The small white flowers are amongst the first to appear in March, and are followed by seed-pods a little like miniaturised versions of honesty’s.’
He also explains that the name is due to the plant’s use by medieval herbalists to treat whitlows, not a medical condition I was familiar with but which the Oxford Dictionary defines as ‘an abscess in the soft tissue near a fingernail or toenail’. I don’t recommend a Google image search as the condition looks quite gruesome, but these wildflowers, often present in large massed displays, are a delight.
27 Sunday Feb 2022
Posted flowers, spring, wildflowers, winter
inThe title of today’s post may be later winter wildflowers but, in fact, my video includes some glorious hints of the spring colour we can all expect to see very soon. I hope you enjoy looking at them as much as I enjoyed finding them.
13 Sunday Feb 2022
Posted plants
inThis is a personal learning journey that I thought I would share, and some of you can probably help along the way. Call me mad if you want, but I’m trying to work out what plants will become from looking at their early growth. This may be a very short journey as I may get so frustrated that I quickly give up, particularly as I’m already uncertain about one of today’s examples, but here goes…. Working from left to right, I think these are Creeping thistle (Cirsium arvensis) and Daisy (Bellis perennis), then Teasel (Dipsacus fullonum) and today’s head-scratcher. It may be Prickly sow-thistle (Sonchus asper). It may be I’m biting off far more than I can chew trying to identify this plant at this early stage. Any ideas anyone?
06 Sunday Feb 2022
Posted flowers, wildflowers
inDespite being battered by drenching rain and storm-force wind gusts these hardy daffodils were still looking gorgeous.
In fact, the remaining water droplets seemed only to add to their beauty.
23 Sunday Jan 2022
Posted flowers, wildflowers, winter
inTags
British wildflowers, wildflowers in winter, winter wildflowers, winter yellow, winter-blooming wildflowers, yellow wildflowers
Limiting my palette to yellow, for the challenge and the sunshine cheeriness of the colour, I went searching for wildflowers in bloom in my local area this week. These are the dozen I managed to find …
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