Tag: wildflowers

April 14th – Another sign of spring is the roadsalt-loving Danish scurvy grass in bloom. This odd little plant has moved onto highway fringes normally burned and hostile due to winter gritting – but this wee plant loves the salt, and thrives.

This gives a lovely white fringe to roads, motorways and dual carriageways throughout the country at this time of year.

No matter how hostile an environment, nature always finds a way to exploit it.

April 10th – Down at the Warehouse, Where the Lichfield Road and Barracks Lane Cross, a horse’s neigh from where the Staffordshire Hoard found Hammerwich, some beautiful flowers by the horse pasture. Forget me nots, wallflowers, blackcurrant, daffodils, hyacinth and others vie for attention in a busy hedgerow.

A gorgeous sight on what was a blustery, rather cold day.

March 24th – Passing through Wednesbury, I noticed this bank of daffodils by an industrial estate verge. Now that’s a fine thing and I was very happy to see them, then I noticed that amongst the standard yellow variety, there was white too.

I wonder if that was a happy accident or a genetic mutation? Whatever the cause, a delight to the soul for sure.

March 18th – Struggling up Shire Oak Hill after nipping to Stonnall I noticed the flowers at the roadside that were bringing colour to a very dull evening. Plenty of fresh daffodils, of course, but this year the snowdrops seem to have held on forever. Not sure if all these are actually snowdrops, though: they’re very similar but shaped more like a harebell. Can anyone help, please?

Whatever they were, they eased my haul up the hill…

August 21st – It was a grey, damp Friday afternoon, and it felt more like October than August, and after a few grey, wet days I noticed the little meadow near the new pond at Clayhanger had lost all of it’s summer colour suddenly, like switching off a light.

All was not lost, though, as there are still wildflowers nearby – toadflax and honeysuckle are still showing well, and damsons and apples are adding autumn colour. Even a confused lupin was bright in the gloom.

Autumn can wait just a little while, can’t it?

August 15th – A run into Birmingham in the afternoon on an errand saw me take a route down through Witton Lakes. In the small patch of grass that links Witton to Brookvale Park, a curious thing: a metre-wide, undulating band of wheat and wildflowers has been planted. It’s full of bugs and bees, and poppies and cornflowers proliferate. 

It’s a nice thing – and the lakes were as lovely as ever, too.

My compliments to the people who planned and planted it.

July 27th – It’s the time of year when I dread getting stopped by the police.

The cowslips I loved so much in the spring are now seeding, and I have in my pocket a growing bag of little black seeds, like these. I pluck a seed head or two from each clump (careful to leave enough to seed next year), and collect the wee black dots that shake out.

When I have a decent quantity, I’ll spread a few new patches in barren spots or places that would benefit from a little cowslip love.

These flowers cheer me so much, it’s like repaying my debt to them. I invite you to do the same.

July 6th – On an equally dull return commute, harassed by the threat of an oncoming deluge, I shot along the canal on the way home. Pausing only at the small patch of meadow – less than 100 square feet – at t eh top of the new pond at Clayhanger, I captured these midsummer soldiers: St. John’s Wort and the gorgeous thistle.

Come back sun, and make these soldiers shine!

25th June – It’s easy to overlook the weeds and commonest wildflowers, but also a crime. I love dandelions, buttercups and daisies – they’re the unsung, everyday background to many beautiful views. After all, what would a gorgeous summer meadow be without them? Yet how often do we really study these most common of flowers?

I love daisies in particular. Delicate, colourful and hard, they are a real success of the British ecosystem, yet few ever give them a second thought.

Here’s to the common, but unseen.