Wild flowers in Scotland

[TC]

We took a chance on the weather and headed off to Logan Gardens and then to the Mull of Galloway.
The sunny weather at Logan gave way to a near gale on the Mull - it is nearly always blowing a gale here. After a good look at the seabird colony, we looked for some plants to photograph.  There were some nice groups of sea pinks and campions but they were at the cliff edge so I let it pass.  However there was a nice group of Scilla Verna growing on the short grass.  They have the sense not to grow above 5cms./2" or they would get their heads blown off !

[TC]

Beautiful fresh, sunny day so I took myself off to Dunure to see if the Orchids had arrived.  A few were out with the bulk to flower in the next 10 days.  I discovered that I was getting a bit old to act the mountain goat on the sea cliffs.  Why is it that the best flowers always grow in the most inaccessible places !
orchis mascula
dactylorhiza fuchsii
silene maritima
matricaria maritima
armeria maritima

The names on the Orchid pictures should be reversed

[Anthony Darby]

Shouldn't your orchids be t'other way which Tom?

[TC]

Yes !!!!  My charming assistant was looking up the definitive guide " Wild Orchids of Scotland" for the Latin names and I was not paying attention as usual so I typed in a name without checking.
It's nice to see that someone is paying attention.  Please feel free to proof read any postings I make - I'm sure there will be more errors to come.  Wait until I get started on the Rhododendrons.
This is my bete noir just now.  The lack of a circumflex on the first e is intentional. 
After my cliff climbing expedition this morning, something more gentle in the afternoon.  We walked round the Burn's Monument Garden and then had a coffee in the grounds next to the Auld Brig o' Doon, of Tam o' Shanter fame.  Maggi is convinced that I am on a retainer for the Scottish Tourist Board -wish I was.  One gratuitous picture attached.

[David Nicholson]

Just keep on posting the pictures Tom, it's the next best thing to being there in person.

[jomowi]

An outing on April 4th resulted in the following find:
Gagea lutea (yellow star-of-Bethlehem) likes damp, base rich soil.  The plant was growing in Morayshire in open deciduous woodland beside the river Spey.  Flowering early before the nettles and bracken take over, it is not a common plant in Scotland.  It is shy to flower, and clumps of leaves can be confused with bluebell leaves.  Gagea leaves have 3 parallel ribs on the reverse, and the tip is pinched into a roll.





A couple of days out with friends yielded the following wild flowers:

May 14.  Very surprised to find twinflower out so early, albeit we were in a woodland in what we affectionately call the “Northern Banana Belt” of the Moray coast!  In the same area, but on coastal heath/grassland we found an early Corallorhiza trifida (coralroot orchid) and the first Dactylorhiza purpurella (Northern marsh orchid) flowering.  No pics of these.



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In the same woodland as the twinflower were the first few flowers of Trientalis europaea (chickweed wintergreen).



In  an Aberdeenshire woodland we found Paris quadrifolia.





The very common but none-the-less attractive flower of Vaccinium myrtillus (blaeberry to those of us in Scotland)  The flower is often mistaken for immature fruit.



May 15th   Straddling the Moray/Aberdeenshire border at an altitude of 670m. we found Arctostaphylos alpinus with fresh new growth, but unfortunately no sign of flower buds yet.  This is the alpine bearberry which turns a rich red colour in the autumn and remains throughout the winter.  A pic. of this at the same location was posted last autumn.

[Anthony Darby]

Thanks for these Brian. Wonderful! Paris in the spring. Ye cannae beat it.

[Lesley Cox]

I love all these wildflowers from Scotland, so many extolled in verse and song. It's easy to take what we have for granted and be thrilled about what is elsewhere but the wildflowers of any country are part of its national treasure surely.

I have about 100 young bulbs of Scilla verna so it's pleasing to see what to expect. I think I'll plant them at the edge of a grassy bit and hopefully they'll naturalize. They have a Scottish connection - grown Otago Alpine Garden Group seed, donated by John Hawgood, collected in the Orkney Islands.

[Lesley Cox]

Brian, your seed of Sorbus reducta has germinated this week, all at once. I plan to replace my suckering form with yours, and plant the suckers in an area where they can make ground cover. They've had great autumn colour recently so I don't want to abandon them totally, just where they are at present. so, many thanks again.

[TC]

As the Orchids seem to be out in profusion, we headed inland to a good site where we have seen them in abundance.
The lesser butterfly orchids are now coming into flower.
Strangely, the best local site for the marsh orchid is a large rough field next to Prestwick Airport.  There are hundreds growing among rough grass and sedge.  As this site is scheduled for industrial development we will have to get the Scottish Wildlife Trust to mount a rescue operation and translocate them, when news of the proposed development starts..