This week’s challenge for #WildflowerHour was ‘What can you find blooming along the coast?’. I’ve had a couple of walks around parts of Cardiff Bay this week and could’ve included a lot of plants but have selected just four.

As Cardiff Council has (amazingly!) refrained from cutting the Barrage grass in recent months, the few Viper’s-bugloss (Echium vulgare) plants that were previously growing there have increased markedly. There must be over 50 plants now spread across the expanse of the Barrage, and the blue flowers make a lovely contrast against the grass green.

I rarely see Tansy (Tanacetum vulgare), so this single plant, thriving on the sandy slope below the children’s playground on the Barrage, was a delightful surprise.

Growing just along from that Tansy plant, was this lone White campion (Silene latifolia) plant. It wasn’t looking as healthy as the Tansy but was covered in seed heads so I think it was just past its best.

This Wood sage (Teucrium scorodonia) was a total surprise as you wouldn’t necessarily expect a plant with ‘wood’ in its name to be growing alongside a seaside path. My book says it prefers acid soils but, when I googled, I found many examples of Wood sage growing on scree slopes, amongst limestone, and close to sand dunes, so I guess it’s very adaptable.