In flower now

12 Sunday Apr 2026

Tags

British wildflowers, Cardamine pratensis, Common fumitory, Common Stork's-bill, Cornsalad, Cuckoo flower, Erodium cicutarium, Forget-me-not, Fumaria officinalis, Hairy violet, Honesty, Lamium purpureum, Lunnaria annua, Myosotis species, Red dead-nettle, Spring colour, spring wildflowers, Valerianella locusta, Viola hirta

It seems every time I step out the door now I notice new, different wildflowers in bloom. These are some of this week’s finds; for no particular reason, I seem to have focused on the blue / pink colour tones.

The grassy area on Cardiff Bay’s Barrage is full of Common stork’s-bill (Erodium cicutarium), looking very lush.

Cornsalad (Valerianella locusta) is blooming in many of the local areas of waste ground, proving those areas are not really a waste at all.

Just in time for the emergence of the Orange-tip butterflies that use this wildflower as one of their larval plants: Cuckoo flower (Cardamine pratensis).

One of the Forget-me-not (Myosotis) species, possibly Common (M. sylvatica), though the plant did seem very small.

A wildflower with a lot of variation in its flower colours, Common fumitory (Fumaria officinalis), also known by the vernacular name Earth smoke.

At this time of year, the east and west paddocks at Cosmeston Lakes Country Park are tinged lilac with the flowers of Hairy violet (Viola hirta).

Escaped from its original garden plantings and now adorning the edges of local lanes, Honesty (Lunnaria annua).

This was the scene alongside the bike / pedestrian path around the edge of Grangemoor Park this week, where swathes of beautiful Red dead-nettle (Lamium purpureum) are in full bloom.

Crane’s-bill vs stork’s-bill

29 Sunday Oct 2023

Posted by sconzani in flowers, wildflowers

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Tags

British wildflowers, Common Stork's-bill, crane's bills, Erodium cicutarium, Geranium pratense, Meadow crane's-bill, stork's-bills

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.

231029 meadow crane's-bill vs common stork's-bill (1)

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.

231029 meadow crane's-bill vs common stork's-bill (2)