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.
February 22nd – Spring certainly felt on her throne in and around Walsall Wood. The crocuses were coming into bloom on the High Street, the Canada geese were developing their customary mating territorial aggression on the towpaths and the display outside the florists was gorgeous. Sadly, on what was probably the best cycling day of the year, I had other stuff to do, and my ride was short – but oh my, it was enjoyable. It’s been so long since the weather felt as favourable as it does now.
More, please.
February 19th – Meanwhile, at the other end in Telford, another sign of spring: daffodils are growing well on the verges and along the cycleways. I love to see them, and last year they seemed so late. I notice crocuses out, too. I’m a bit concerned, really; the heavy snows of last winter returned in late March. Although it’s wonderful to see such early signs of spring, I hope they’re not wiped out by a return to winter… but this is churlish. The weather is such an improvement, as is the cycling.
Hopefully, the weather will open out a bit now.
August 16th – Also at Hopwas on the canal, a beautiful flower garden at a canal side bungalow. The house is gorgeous, and if only I were rich… but the flowerbeds were a riot of colour; unusual for this point in the season when the brightest blooms start to fade. I just had to skid to a halt and take a picture. Sadly, it doesn’t do justice to the stunning display.
July 16th – Another steady click in the escapement of summer, the willow herb is in flower. This tall plant with soft purple flowers is the king of the margins, the scrub and wastelands. It grows in any neglected spot, requires little from the ground, and spreads via familiar late-summer wind borne seeds often called ‘fairies’ by kids. The seeds are fluffily and white, and give rise to the colloquial name ‘Old man’s beard’.
This part of summer is all about the transition from the yellows of spring to the blues, pinks and purples of high and late summer; nightshade, foxglove, lupins, buddleia, vetch, Himalayan balsam.
Right now, every day is a delight of new flowering.
July 9th – It was an unexpected delight this evening to note the flowers along the Ring Road in Walsall, at the Arboretum Junction. Walsall Council always does this really well, and the lovely blooms are a joy to the heart.
My thanks to whoever plants and tends them – a lovely thing indeed.
June 27th – a third day at Leicester, and another day admiring the flowers at South Wigston. I’m not sure if that’s a thistle (it wasn’t spiky) or a type of cornflower. Even the dandelions going to seed are pretty. Nothing has done more to make me look closely at the margins, the unwanted, the wasteland, than this place. Beautiful.
June 5th – The wildflowers (and not so wild) are arriving and making their presence felt in hedgerows and gardens. Everything from lobelia to forget-me-not, rhododendron to laburnam are all showing beautifully. This is the English countryside at it’s best. Get out and enjoy it while you can.
May 29th – Not sure what this is, but it’s growing with some abundance along many on the cycleways around Telford. It smells heavenly. I think it’s some kind of cherry, but please do correct me.
On a wet, grim morning, it gladdened my heart.
Sorry for the poor quality phone picture, I forgot my trusty camera.
May 3rd – This is an interesting one. Just by the Pelsall Road bridge in Brownhills, a lovely bed of daffodils, tulips and other spring flowers, where once there was just grass. The odd thing is that the triangle forming the bed is inaccessible, except by boat, or maybe by ladder from the road above.
Ingenious, perplexing and lovely. Beautiful.
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