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Tag Archives: wildflowers in bloom

Midwinter wildflowers

17 Sunday Jan 2021

Posted by sconzani in flowers, wildflowers, winter

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British wildflowers, midwinter wildflowers, wildflowers in bloom, winter colour, winter wildflowers

Nature’s resilience amazes me! It’s the middle of winter, we’ve had some very hard frosts and really chilly days as well as torrential rain, yet I’ve still been able to find 25 species of wildflower in bloom this week.

These heroes are Alexanders, Bramble, a garden-escapee Campanula species, Creeping buttercup, Daisy, Dandelion, Field speedwell, Gorse, Groundsel, Herb Robert, Hogweed, Ivy-leaved toadflax, Lesser celandine, Mayweed species, Meadow buttercup, Nipplewort, Oxeye daisy, Primrose, Ragwort, Red valerian, Shepherd’s purse, Smooth sow-thistle, Sweet violet, Wild radish, and Winter heliotrope.

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327/366 Around the town

22 Sunday Nov 2020

Posted by sconzani in autumn, wildflowers

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autumn colour, autumn wildflowers, British wildflowers, wildflowers in bloom

For this week’s wildfloral fest, I’ve taken a couple of meanders around my town to see what I could find along the back lanes, in cracks on stone walls, on the verges, bordering the pavements, in the churchyard and cemetery. And here are the bloomers: Bramble, Daisy, Dandelion, Field speedwell, Hedge bindweed and Hedge woundwort, Hemp agrimony, Herb Robert, Ivy-leaved toadflax, Nipplewort, Oxeye daisy, my first Primrose of the season, Purple toadflax, Red dead-nettle, Red valerian, and Wood avens. Not a bad haul for late November.

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320/366 Zigzag flowers

15 Sunday Nov 2020

Posted by sconzani in autumn, wildflowers

≈ 2 Comments

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autumn colour, British wildflowers, Penarth zigzag path, wildflowers in bloom, Zigzag path, Zigzag path wildflowers

I haven’t checked what’s flowering along the local zigzag path for a while so I thought I’d take a look for this week’s Sunday wildflower post and #wildflowerhour on social media. Imagine my delight when I found these 14 species: Ragwort, Cinquefoil (a nice surprise), Creeping thistle, Hedge bindweed, Meadow crane’s-bill (which is doing really well since the Council stopped cutting the vegetation on this site), Common vetch, Red clover, Bramble species, Herb Robert, Field scabious, Tufted vetch (nice to see the two vetches in bloom), Winter helleborine (another nice, unexpectedly early surprise) [ed. heliotrope, not helleborine – thanks, Vicky!], Black medick, and Meadow buttercup.

201115 1 ragwort
201115 2 cinquefoil
201115 3 creeping thistle
201115 4 hedge bindweed
201115 5 meadow crane's-bill
201115 6 common vetch
201115 7 red clover
201115 8 bramble
201115 9 herb robert
201115 10 field scabious
201115 11 tufted vetch
201115 12 winter helleborine
201115 13 black medick
201115 14 meadow buttercup

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313/366 Flowers in a field

08 Sunday Nov 2020

Posted by sconzani in autumn, wildflowers

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autumn colour, autumn wildflowers, British wildflowers, farm field wildflowers, wildflowers in bloom

Running alongside the local coastal path are a series of farm fields, belonging, I understand, to the Welsh government.

201108 a field

These fields are usually leased for farming but, because there are currently plans to build 500 houses here (and don’t even get me started on how ludicrous that is!), it seems no local farmer was willing to lease the fields this year so they have not been cultivated. This has been an incredible bonus for wildlife (this is a well-used flyway so migrating birds have taken advantage of the re-wilded environment) and for the wildflowers that would usually be sprayed to death prior to crop planting.

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This week I’ve checked which flowers are still in bloom in these fields and their surrounding hedgerows, and found the following: Hedge bindweed, Bramble species, Bristly oxtongue, Creeping thistle, Dandelion species, Field speedwell, Rape, Scarlet pimpernel (the day was too dull for the flower to open), Smooth sow-thistle, Spear thistle, Sun spurge, and Ragwort.

201108 x ragwort

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299/366 Blooming now

25 Sunday Oct 2020

Posted by sconzani in autumn, wildflowers

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autumn colour, autumn-flowering wildflowers, British wildflowers, wildflowers in bloom

Today’s blast of colour is brought to you by the colour purple, with splashes of pink and blue and lilac. All these gorgeous wild plants are still flowering in my local area and, on grey days, when we here in Wales are once again in full Covid-19 lockdown, seeing these on my daily exercise walks is a spirit-lifting delight!

201025 buddleja
201025 bush vetch
201025 common knapweed
201025 creeping thistle
201025 devil's-bit scabious
201025 field scabious
201025 hedge woundwort
201025 herb robert
201025 ivy-leaved toadflax
201025 meadow crane's-bill
201025 musk-mallow
201025 purple toadflax
201025 rosebay willowherb
201025 teasel
201025 tufted vetch

For those who want to know, these are: Buddleja, Bush vetch, Common knapweed, Creeping thistle, Devil’s-bit scabious, Field scabious, Hedge woundwort, Herb Robert, Ivy-leaved toadflax, Meadow crane’s-bill, Musk-mallow, Purple toadflax, Rosebay willowherb, Teasel, and Tufted vetch.

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286/266 Still blooming

12 Monday Oct 2020

Posted by sconzani in autumn, wildflowers

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

autumn colour, autumn wildflowers, British wildflowers, wildflowers in bloom

Botanically speaking, I’ve been a bit preoccupied in the past few weeks with the structural shapes of seedheads and the autumn bounty of fruit, so yesterday, during a walk across farm fields and along woodland rides, I thought I’d record how many wildflowers I could find in bloom. Turns out, there are still rather a lot, including Agrimony, Bramble, Broad-leaved willowherb, Creeping buttercup, Creeping thistle, a Dandelion species, Hedge woundwort, Hemp agrimony, Herb Robert, Knapweed, Meadow vetchling, Ragwort, Red campion, Red clover, White clover and Yarrow.

201012 agrimony
201012 bramble
201012 broad-leaved willowherb
201012 creeping buttercup
201012 creeping thistle
201012 dandelion
201012 hedge woundwort
201012 hemp agrimony
201012 herb robert
201012 knapweed
201012 meadow vetchling
201012 ragwort
201012 red campion
201012 red clover
201012 white clover
201012 yarrow

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54/366 Winter 29!

23 Sunday Feb 2020

Posted by sconzani in nature, wildflowers

≈ 4 Comments

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British flora, British wildflowers, wildflowers in bloom, winter wildflowers

Despite the appalling weather we’ve been having, the natural world obviously feels the coming of Spring as this week I’ve found 29 wildflowers in bloom, including firsts of Coltsfoot, Common corn salad, Spotted medick and Wood anemone.

The full list is: Alexanders, Coltsfoot, Common comfrey, Common cornsalad, Common field speedwell, Cow parsley, Creeping buttercup, Daisy, Dandelion, Forget-me-not, Gorse, Groundsel, Hairy bitter-cress, Herb Robert, Hogweed, Ivy-leaved toadflax, Lesser celandine, Nipplewort, Oxeye daisy, Primrose, Red dead nettle, Red valerian, Shepherd’s-purse, Smooth sow-thistle, Snowdrop, Spotted medick, Sun spurge, Winter heliotrope and Wood anemone.

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5/366 Musk mallow

05 Sunday Jan 2020

Posted by sconzani in nature, wildflowers, winter

≈ 4 Comments

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British wildflowers, Malva moschata, Musk mallow, wildflowers in bloom, winter colour, winter wildflowers

This Musk mallow (Malva moschata) must be the prettiest wildflower I’ve found still in bloom so far this year.

200105 musk mallow (1)

They can usually be found in dry places, like ‘chalk pastures, roadsides, churchyards and old quarries’, according to my Flora Botanica: this one was on a roadside verge next to Grangemoor Park, a former rubbish dump now park.

200105 musk mallow (4)
200105 musk mallow (3)

Plantlife’s website has some fascinating snippets about this pretty plant. Did you know …

  • The ancient Greeks used musk mallow to decorate friends’ graves.
  • Musk mallow was once an ingredient in soothing cough syrups and ointments, and it was also valued as an aphrodisiac!
  • In the Victorian “Language of Flowers” it is said to be a symbol of ‘consumed by love’, persuasion, and weakness.
200105 musk mallow (2)

Can you spot the itsy-bitsy spider?

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2/366 New Year Plant Hunt

02 Thursday Jan 2020

Posted by sconzani in nature, wildflowers, winter

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

British wildflowers, Cardiff Bay, New Year Plant Hunt, wildflowers in bloom, winter wildflowers

While I was walking around Cardiff Bay yesterday, not only was I keeping an eye on the sky for birds, I was also looking down a lot, trying to find as many wildflowers in bloom as possible for the New Year Plant Hunt – to be honest, it’s amazing I didn’t fall over, with my head bobbing up and down like one of those nodding dogs you used to see in the back windows of cars (some of you may be too young to remember those!).

200102 1 thistle sp
200102 2 common ragwort

The New Year Plant Hunt actually goes on for four days, from the 1st to the 4th, so you’ve still time to join in. The event is run by the BSBI, the Botanical Society of Britain & Ireland, and aims to ‘find out how our wildflowers are responding to changes in autumn and winter weather patterns’. You can read all about it on their website, and follow along on the social media of your choice.

200102 3 winter heliotrope
200102 4 red clover

I was surprised and delighted with my haul from yesterday, finding 28 (!) wildflowers in bloom. My tentative identifications are: a thistle species; Common ragwort; Winter heliotrope; Red clover; a Gorse species; Daisy; one of the Cat’s-ears (I think); a member of the carrot family, perhaps one of the parsleys; Bristly oxtongue; Red valerian; Hemlock water dropwort; a dandelion species; Black nightshade; a sowthistle species; a mayweed, I think; a buttercup species; Bramble; Sea radish; a hawkweed species; Groundsel; Petty spurge (with a rust fungus); Narrow-leaved bittercress; White melilot; Yarrow; Oxeye daisy; Common kapweed; Shepherd’s-purse; and Herb Robert.

200102 5 gorse sp
200102 6 daisy
200102 7 cats ear sp
200102 8 parsley sp
200102 9 bristly oxtongue
200102 10 red valerian
200102 11 hemlock water dropwort
200102 12 dandelion sp
200102 13 Black nightshade
200102 14 sowthistle sp
200102 15 mayweed sp
200102 16 buttercup sp
200102 17 bramble sp
200102 18 sea radish
200102 19 a hawkweed perhaps
200102 20 groundsel
200102 21 petty spurge
200102 22 narrow-leaved bittercress
200102 23 White melilot
200102 24 yarrow
200102 25 oxeye daisy
200102 26 common knapweed
200102 27 shepherds purse
200102 28 herb robert

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356/365 Winter solstice wildflowers

22 Sunday Dec 2019

Posted by sconzani in flowers, nature, plants, wildflowers, winter

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

#WildflowerHour, #winter10, British wildflowers, wildflowers in bloom, winter wildflowers, winter-blooming wildflowers

It may be the shortest day of the year but I’ve found more blooming wildflowers this week than in the previous weeks of wildflowerhour’s winter 10 challenge. Here we have: a Buttercup species; Daisy; one of the many Dandelion species; Hemlock water dropwort; still quite a bit of Herb Robert about; Ivy-leaved toadflax is flourishing in the wet weather; a Knapweed; a lovely surprise, a couple of plants of Musk mallow; Oxeye daisy; plenty of Petty spurge; surprisingly, a few Primroses already in flower (though most partly eaten); Common ragwort; Red clover; quite a lot of Red valerian; what I assume is Sea radish; plenty of Shepherd’s purses; one of the Sowthistles; Violets – sweet, I think; a Thistle species; White clover; an umbellifer which I think is Wild carrot; quite a lot of Winter heliotrope in flower now; Yarrow; and, a bright burst of Yellow corydalis.

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191222 hemlock water dropwort
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191222 red valerian
191222 sea radish
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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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