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earthstar

~ a celebration of nature

earthstar

Tag Archives: spring flowers

Greedy for Garlic

20 Sunday Apr 2025

Posted by sconzani in insects, spring, wildflowers

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

Allium ursinum, British wildflowers, Dark-edged bee-fly, Honey bee, Ramsons, solitary bee, Speckled wood, spring flowers, Wild garlic

The first two days of the Easter break were very wet so I’m glad I took these images last Sunday. One of our local parks has the perfect environment for Wild garlic – Ramsons, if you prefer, Allium ursinum. A shallow ravine runs through the park, with a small stream meandering along its base, and, at this time of year, the steep sides of the gulley are carpeted with the lush green leaves and bright white umbels of garlic flowers. Elsewhere in the park, under tall old trees, the path is also lined with Wild garlic, so anywhere you walk, whenever you breathe, your nostrils are almost assaulted by garlic’s strong smell.

Though I know some people can’t tolerate this odour, it doesn’t seem to affect the insects, neither attracts nor repels them; a flower’s a flower, with the pollen and nectar that nurtures them. Last Sunday’s walk wasn’t particularly sunny but I still found a few creatures feeding greedily: a Speckled wood, a teeny solitary bee and a Honey bee, and a Dark-edged bee-fly.

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Flowers and beyond

02 Sunday Mar 2025

Posted by sconzani in spring, wildflowers

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Tags

British wildflowers, Colt's-foot, Coltsfoot, Coltsfoot leaves, Coltsfoot seedhead, signs of spring, Spring colour, spring flowers, spring wildflowers, Tussilago farfara, yellow wildflowers

Every year I celebrate my first sighting of Colt’s-foot (or Coltsfoot, if you prefer; Tussilago farfara), as the aggressive way it punches its way through overgrown vegetation, layers of dead leaves, even a covering of gravel seems to express for me Nature’s determination to put the cold dark days of winter behind.

And, of course, the sight of these bright bursts of golden yellow seems to mirror the sun’s reappearance in our skies and the ever-lengthening daytime hours.

My focus for this plant has always been on its flower so this year I thought I would also show what comes after. This is a plant whose leaves appear much later than its flowers; in fact, the flowers are often beginning to set their seed before the leaves emerge. The shape of the leaf, supposedly resembling the shape of the underside of a colt’s foot, is how this plant got its common name. And I think you’ll agree that the seedhead is rather beautiful too.

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Greeting the vernal sun

09 Sunday Feb 2025

Posted by sconzani in flowers, spring, wildflowers, winter

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Tags

British wildflowers, crocus, Crocuses, Spring colour, Spring crocuses, spring flowers

Though a tremor of the winter
Did shivering through them run;
Yet they lifted up their foreheads
To greet the vernal sun.

And the sunbeams gave them welcome,
As did the morning air—
And scattered o’er their simple robes
Rich tints of beauty rare.

Soon a host of lovely flowers
From vales and woodland burst;
But in all that fair procession
The crocuses were first.

First to weave for Earth a chaplet
To crown her dear old head;
And to beauty the pathway
Where winter still did tread.

~ four verses from the poem ‘The Crocuses’ by Frances Ellen Watkins Harper (1825-1911)

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The white wildflower challenge

24 Sunday Mar 2024

Posted by sconzani in flowers, spring, wildflowers

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

British wildflowers, Spring colour, spring flowers, white wildflowers, white-flowered wildflowers

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.

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First Coltsfoot

18 Sunday Feb 2024

Posted by sconzani in wildflowers

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Tags

British wildflowers, Coltsfoot, spring flowers, Tussilago farfara, yellow flowers

240218 coltsfoot (2)

I’ve been checking this little area each time I’ve passed in recent weeks, looking for early signs of growth. It’s very overgrown with straggly brambles and long grass but, last Friday, after poking about the area with a stick, I found what I was hoping to see, my first Coltsfoot flower of the season.

240218 coltsfoot (3)

This spot, on the edge of a local park, is where I’ve seen my first Coltsfoots in bloom in the past but, as seems to be the case with most flora and fauna, this flower is at least a week earlier than my sightings in previous years.

240218 coltsfoot (1)

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It’s spring!

22 Wednesday Nov 2023

Posted by sconzani in flowers, wildflowers

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Tags

British wildflowers, primrose, Primula vulgaris, spring flowers

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.

231122 primrose

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April flowers

23 Sunday Apr 2023

Posted by sconzani in flowers, spring, wildflowers

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

British wildflowers, Spring colour, spring flowers, wildflowers

As I write this, we actually have April showers but, luckily, they weren’t falling on me or this random selection of April flowers from today’s walk. First one to name them all gets … a gold star!

230423 wildflowers

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Spring flowers in winter rain

18 Saturday Feb 2023

Posted by sconzani in flowers, wildflowers

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Tags

crocus, Lesser Celandine, primrose, raindrops on flowers, Snowdrops, Spring colour, spring flowers, Winter aconite

As the remnants of Storm Otto continue to blast and batter, a local meander turned up these glorious spring flowers, little beacons of colour and light on a grey winter’s day.

230218 spring flowers winter rain

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First Primroses

29 Sunday Jan 2023

Posted by sconzani in wildflowers

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Tags

British wildflowers, primrose, spring flowers, spring flowers in January, winter colour

I went hunting spring wildflowers on Friday but was, for the most part, disappointed. There was an abundance of Lesser celandine leaves but no sign of any flowers, and the merest sprinkling of Snowdrops, though no open flowers. I was, however, much more lucky with Primroses, with a single plant flowering amongst a sea of plants on a grassy hillside in a local park.

230129 primrose (1)

And then a circuit of the yard around a local church brought another plant flowering amongst the graves. Spring is coming …

230129 primrose (2)

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Tree flowers

08 Sunday May 2022

Posted by sconzani in flowers, trees

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Tags

spring flowers, tree flowers, trees

Instead of wildflowers, this week we have some of the tree flowers I’ve noticed in recent weeks. It’s certainly not an exhaustive list but I’ve definitely got a much better appreciation for the lovely flowers so many trees have.

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About me

sconzani

sconzani

I'm a writer and photographer; researcher and blogger; birder and nature lover; countryside rambler and city strider; volunteer and biodiversity recorder.

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