Tag: flowers

September 12th – The Autumn fruits are starting to come with abundance now, and few are more welcome than the bright reds and oranges of the rosehips. Where there were beautiful wayside flowers a few months ago, there are now gorgeous, shiny berries providing a feast for wildlife and a splash of welcome colour in the hedgerow.

The diversity of shapes and colours of these little-appreciated fruits is interesting, too.

Always a nice compensation for the ending of summer.

August 9th – Bind weed is everywhere at this time of year. With the almost pure white flowers and large leaves, this climbing plant is prodigious and often regarded as a nuisance.

That’s a shame really, as it’s another one of those plants that if it was rarer, it would be cherished. It attracts and feeds lots of bugs and bees, and is particularly beautiful.

I was fascinated in the way the one flower had been so selectively nibbled.

July 16th – This curious flower was found in the reed bed at the edge of the canal at Newtown, near the Castings factory. I’ve never seen anything like it before, and it seemed to exist in isolation.

It turns out it’s a common reed: branched bur-reed, and the flowers – little spiky gloves about the diameter of your fingernail – are remarkable. It’s an apparently common canal plant, so I must have seen loads of it and never realised.

I really should open my eyes more!

June 30th – As we approach what is a very damp midsummer, the flowers and greenery are beautiful this year, even if the weather isn’t. Although the early flush of blossom and spring colour has now passed, there are now more gentle delights if you look carefully. 

The thistles are just emerging now, in several forms and the self-heal has been in bloom for a week or two now, with it’s tiny, but beautifully coloured flower heads. Also remarkable and spotted today near the cycleway at Goscote, this wonderful orchid.

Purple definitely seems to be the colour of the moment.

June 26th – Cutting across the common, there are plenty of flowers in bloom, and the bees are busy. Blues and purples seem the order of the day, with late forget-me-nots, purple comfrey vetch and others all showing well. 

Also rather lovely are the dandelions – not just those flowering, but those gone to seed, too – such lovely, natural engineering.

June 19th – I swung past the island on the Warrenhouse at 221 Hay, where the Lichfield Road meets Barracks Lane. I was heading to Stonall, but the display of flowers on the verge caught my eye.

I’m not sure who plants the verge here, whether it’s the garden centre or vets – both nearby – but it’s always beautiful, no matter what time of year you look. 

At the moment, poppies are the order of the day. Huge poppies, of several different colours. But other flowers are in the mix too, and it’s just a wonderful, chaotic riot of colour.

I’m sure many drivers pass this by unnoticed; I commend you not to. It’s a fantastic thing, so why not take a look next time you’re in the area?

June 13th – Another day, another rainstorm, another soaking.

I headed out mid-morning from work to visit a customer; sadly, I left just as the heavens opened. 

Fortunately, the flowers I saw on the way were so beautiful, they made up for the wet legs.

To the person who’s been practising the rain dance: I think you have the hang of it now. Please stop.

May 18th – Riding home along a damp canal on a grey evening commute, I noticed the apple blossom is really, really profuse this year. This crab apple tree near the Black Cock Bridge in Walsall Wood is absolutely beautiful – and the scent is wonderful.

With decent weather in the last few days, hopefully pollination will be good. Certainly plenty of bees about, even on their grey, chilly evening.