Are you up for a challenge? Do you like wildflowers? Well, then get following Wildflowerhour on Twitter and / or Facebook, and join in the weekly wildflower challenge fun. Not only will your newsfeed be filled with glorious colour every Sunday night from 8 to 9pm (and throughout the week, as well) but I guarantee you will also learn something new each week.

The verge

This week’s challenge was titled ‘On the verge’, and we were challenged to see what wildflowers we could discover on roadside verges. Rather than a busy highway, I chose a quiet local side road at Penarth Marina – I already get lots of odd looks for taking a close look at flowers and insects, so tried to avoid too much attention. The Marina area is a relatively new environment, my verge an area that had previously been a dock, where ocean-going ships brought goods from near and far to Cardiff, but this particular dock was filled with household rubbish and turned into a park back in the 1980s. So, I didn’t find anything particularly exciting on my verge but it was interesting to see what plants had become established.

Common cornsalad (Valerianella locusta)

Creeping buttercup (Ranunculus repens)

The ever reliable Daisy (Bellis perennis)

Partly devoured Dandelion (Taraxacum sp.) and slug friend

Field Wood-rush (Luzula campestris)

Groundsel (Senecio vulgaris)

Not quite open yet, but close – Ribwort plantain (Plantago lanceolata)

Wavy Bitter-cress (Cardamine flexuosa)