British wildflowers

[Maggi Young]

I don't know this plant at all -  looking at some info on it and various pictures, I'm suprised that something with such a hairy stem  can be called in some places, "smooth Bedstraw- on account of its smooth stems" !!

[François Lambert]

I don't know this plant at all -  looking at some info on it and various pictures, I'm suprised that something with such a hairy stem  can be called in some places, "smooth Bedstraw- on account of its smooth stems" !!

Maggy, the stems are very soft to touch    A totally different experience compared to walking through a patch of velcro weed 

And the smell reminds me of honey

[Maggi Young]

François, I am pleased to hear it!  It looks a quite attractive plant -  I wonder why I have never noted it before. 

[François Lambert]

François, I am pleased to hear it!  It looks a quite attractive plant -  I wonder why I have never noted it before. 

you almost need a magnifying glass to see the flowers 

[Maggi Young]

  Aah! Perhaps there is often a clue!

[François Lambert]

asked my wife to take a few pics of the crosswort.

they flower pretty much from now on untill late summer.

[Tristan_He]

you almost need a magnifying glass to see the flowers 

The individual flowers perhaps. But they are produced in quantity.

It's not that common in Britain, though widely distributed. 

[ian mcdonald]

Seen briefly on Gardeners World last night was this wild flower img. 1010363. A late friend of mine, a botanist, said the latin name for this plant was her favourite name. Better known as Yellow Archangel, it is common in woods on limestone in our area. Lamiastrum galeobdolon. Try saying that after a few drinks. I grow it in the garden.

[Hoy]

Happy to know the name of this plant, I always wondered what they were.

I have a big area in the wild part of the garden where almost nothing else is growing.  When set seed I can send you some - I have however never checked for seeds on these plants.  They seem to like dry conditions, they mostly grow on about one inch of soil on top of a concrete platform.

Hi François,

If you manage to collect seed I will beg for some too!

[ian mcdonald]

It is surprising how many people do not bother to look closely at our own native plants, most consider them not garden worthy. Any good book with illustrations, there are about 2000 species of wild flowers in the UK, should encourage gardeners to grow more of our wild flowers. Do not remove them from the wild though. Many of our flowers are becoming rare due to habitat loss from "development" etc.

[Tristan_He]

Hi Ian, yes my wife and I were admiring the stitchwort (Stellaria holostea) in the hedges on the way home today and wondering why it isn't grown much in gardens.

Drifts of thrift (!) (Armeria maritima) looking beautiful at the seaside - unfortunately I didn't have my camera.

[ian mcdonald]

Hello Tristan, as kids we used to call greater stitchwort "cuckoo flower" as it flowered at the same time as the cuckoo appeared. Not to be confused with Ladys smock which has the same common name for the same reason.

[Tristan_He]

Really Ian I hadn't heard it called by that name before. I've always associated Cardamine pratensis with that common name (and in fact usually refer to it as cuckoo flower rather than lady's smock).

My Cardamine is doing quite well in the meadow area, from one or two plants when I arrived to quite a number now. An outstanding plant and of course it is food for the local orange tip butterfly, which seem to be doing well this year after a couple of very poor years. Saw the first green hairstreaks today as well.

[ian mcdonald]

Not a great number of butterflies here yet but we are expecting large heath anytime now. The cranberries are full of flower today but bog rosemary is only just in bud. Common cottongrass looks good with its seed heads. Rain all day so the flowers should be good next month.

[Tristan_He]

Birdsfoot trefoil is in full flower. Such a familiar plant that we often don't notice it. It makes a beautiful plant for the rockery or the meadow - and foodplant for common blue butterfly as well.