Tag: purple

April 18th – It was a beautiful but tough ride. Only 91 miles, so shorter than a usual dayride, but with over 2000m of vertical climb. I came from Macclesfield to Sutton Common, looped through Allgreave to Wildboarclough, then back to Wincle. Through Bearda to Gun, then down to Meerach and Tittesworth. After Lunch, back through Leek, then onto the Caldon Canal into the Churnet Valley. 

From the end of the canal at Froghall, out of the valley and back in to Oakamoor, along Dimminsdale to Alton then the cycle trail to Denstone, and home via Uttoxeter and Armitage.

It was a great ride – including the beautiful purple cowslips are Bearda, but it was exhausting. That was a hard journey and no mistake.

August 1st – A return home in steady drizzle that wasn’t as bad as expected. At Clayhanger, I noted the purple rose bay willowherb was flowering well and looking beautiful in the rain.

It won’t be long before this dweller of the wastelands and scrubs goes to seed, and the light, wind-borne seeds drift around on the breeze.

A beautiful plant on a wet afternoon.

July 20th – People seem to think I’m negative about buddleia, but I’m not really. It’s a beautiful purple shrub that lights up late summer wonderfully, and it’s not known as the butterfly bush for nothing – the Lepidoptera love the huge flowerhead composed of tiny, individual blooms. 

My problem with this plant – if it’s a problem at all – is that for me, it’s a harbinger of urban decay. It’s so successful in urban environments that it’ll grow well in a patch of soot in vertical brickwork. At this time of year, throughout the urban expanses of the UK you can see buddleia sprouting and flowering from derelict buildings, bridges and rail lines. Seemingly one of the first signs that nobody cares for a place anymore is that it starts flowering in purple at high summer.

You can’t blame the plant for that… 

July 5th – One of my wildflower joys at the moment is the humble thistle. Not just for the vivd purple brush that forms the flower, but for the delightfully spiky and prehistoric looking buds this curious plant forms.

They may not be conventionally beautiful, but next time you pass a thistle, look closely. They’re amazing things.

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 20th – It was terribly wet on my way to work this morning, and on the way back I was too knocked to go to the best spot, but lupins, for a reader who’s unwell.

I know you love them, but don’t get them where you are.

Get well soon old chap. I’ll find you some better ones in the week, promise.

June 9th – Such a profusion of flowers at the moment, for which pink and purple seem to be the current fashion. Roses, orchids and one I’m not sure of all brightened my commute.

The orchids are particularly welcome growing along the towpath near Clayhanger, and on the slope to the new pond. I just adore them.

May 31st – The season of the dog rose is upon us. You can keep your fancy hybrids, your blobs of colour on thorny sticks; give me the colour and scent of a wild rose any day of the week – bringing colour in an uncontrolled riot to towpaths, hedgerows and edge lands all over.

These were just by the canal in Walsall near Bentley Bridge. A joy to the heart.

May 26th – One flower I forgot yesterday that really deserves attention is clover. It’s just coming into flower at the moment, as as I proved yesterday, is a very sadly overlooked component of the verges and meadows.

At the moment, I’m mainly seeing purple ones, and their colour is lovely and bright, and the leaves are beautiful too, especially after rain.

We shouldn’t overlook even the humblest of flowers. They’re only trying to grab our attention, after all.

July 8th – Another tick in the arrivals list for midsummer was added today: rose bay willow herb, or old man’s beard. I had to nip into Great Bridge from Darlaston, and spotted this interesting blue-finger variant on some waste ground. It’ll be a rash of colour for a few weeks, then fill the air with floating seeds.

Apparently, the leaves make a decent tea, and once skinned, you can bake and eat the roots. It’s a fascinating plant, but one that dwells on the fringes and is sadly ignored by most folk.