Tag: cowslip

March 22nd – A terrible photo snatched in the dark: but spring is here – THIS IS NOT A TEST.

The first spot of my favourite flowers, cowslips on the side of the canal towpath at Clayhanger.

I adore these charming little yellow flowers. Their appearance for me confirms the end of winter and the brightness of a new spring. After the rain and misery of the day’s riding, areal pick-me-up in a dark, wet ride home.

April 25th – Despite the very poor weather, on Clayhanger Common, my favourite flowers are having a good year. I absolutely adore cowslips – gorgeous, delicate small yellow primroses, and there are lots growing there now, at lease two or three patches from seed I scattered here a few years ago.

Guerrilla planting is wonderful. Do some today.

June 30th – Looking almost frosted on the warmest day of the year, this is a cowslip seed head. It’s not quite ready yet, and is ripening in the sun beneath the trees by the Pier Street Bridge at the edge of Clayhanger Common. I have my eye on it and it’s fellow plants: as soon as they’re ready, I’ll take a few seed heads and scatter the seeds elsewhere.

You can’t have too many cowslips. Spread the love, people.

May 11th – Cowslips are my favourite flowers. When I was a kid, these dainty little primroses were rarely seen in the area, yet thanks to wildflower planting campaigns, they’ve really got a strong foothold back in the local ecosystem. 

I love to see them, and this year they’ve lasted for weeks in the mild, dry spring; only now are they starting to go over; and even in that, they’re beautiful.

There may be bolder, bigger flowers – but you can’t match the cowslip for effort.

April 11th – A short trip to Chasewater on an unpleasantly windy day was rewarded with the realisation that I’d had a guerrilla-planting success: last autumn, I scattered a load of wild cowslip seeds at Anglesey Basin: this year, a pleasant patch of my favourite flowers.

If we enjoy these things, help them out by spreading the love. I collect seed heads in little bags and spread them on wasteland and verges, then enjoy the results.

Wild flower power!

July 13th – A vitally important mission begins.

These are the seed heads of my favourite flowers, cowslips, and the wee dots the seeds themselves. For the next few weeks, I’ll potter around anywhere I saw cowslips in spring, looking for the seeding plant. I’ll gently collect a little pot of seeds, and then spread them on land where it would be nice to see some in spring (praying I don’t get pulled by the coppers in the meantime).

It’s how most of the cowslips got on Clayhanger Common in the first place. I’m rather proud of that.

Guerilla planting is a random act of natural kindness. Do it now.

April 9th – I had a meeting in Sutton in the morning, then had to pop down to Tyseley. Leaving too late to head anywhere else, but too early to go straight home, I cycled back along the canal home. I love the bit of canal through Bordesley. The stretch past The Bond – so many architectural and technological periods in one shot. I have no idea what’s going on with the statue and the large yellow tank at Typhoo junction, but the cowslips on the embankment were a real treat. 

A really nice afternoon.

March 22nd – I popped into Morrisons at Burntwood to get some shopping in, and was irritated that the store was blocking the cycle parking with stacks and stacks of Mothers Day inspired plants and flowers for sale.

My irritation evaporated when I took a closer look. Cowslips. Polyanthus. Bright colours, speckled with recent raindrops. I adore cowslips – they’re my favourite flower. 

I went home with a pot poking out of my saddlebag. The power of flowers.