British wildflowers

[jomowi]

A big surprise today when I went to see if the Pyrolas on Almond Bing were in flower.  When I posted a pic on discovering them in last winter, I mistakenly thought they were P. media as the stigma protruded the petals.  I'm guessing the latter had shrunk in the dried up state hence my mistake.  Wow!  I have never seen pyrolas flowering in such profusion.  Normally even when there is a dense covering of rosettes, the flowering is sparse.

[jomowi]

Pyrola minor

[ian mcdonald]

Good to see so many, Maureen. It must be a wet spot? So many wild plants are slow to come into flower this year, alpines especially.

[jomowi]

No, Ian, not particularly wet.  In fact it is well drained as the plants are on top of the Bing. The spoil comprising this bing I am told is brick waste, itself a by-product of the shale oil industry.  Poor quality bricks could be made from it.  The tree covering on the top is sparse compared with the rest of the bing which is well wooded, unlike so many of the other bings which are uncovered and to my mind a huge blot on the landscape.  Local people who have grown up with them however, are nostalgic about them and resist any move to have them removed. Some have been 'landscaped' into geometric shapes, another is a nature reserve run by the Scottish Wildlife Trust.  I haven't been to it, but must make the effort.

[jomowi]

Just found some habitat pics taken some years ago for the above entry. 1&2 are the top of the bing where the pyrolas grow.  (Youths, though prohibited, ride their motor bikes, and make jumps to add tp their thrills.  Fortunately, they keep to the tracks) Pic 3 is at the bottom of the bing, the path taking the route of the long defunct Slamannan railway which took coal and iron to the Union Canal at the Causewayend basin at the edge of the bing.  Helleborine epipactis and Listera ovata (old name) grows along here, and on the top also.   

[ichristie]

A recent visit to Aviemore and district saw these near the mountain railway probably planted  Saxifraga hypnoides, Saxifraga stellaris, Sibbaldia  cheers Ian the Christie kind

[ian mcdonald]

Hello Ian, Ian Brodie did some work at the railway, creating a scene with alpines.

[ian mcdonald]

That should be Iain Brodie.

[johnralphcarpenter]

At this time of year the High Weald of Sussex and Kent are rich in wildflowers. Here are Early Purple Orchids flowering with Primroses and Violets on a shady roadside.

[jomowi]

Primula farinosa in Teesdale, close up and in habitat.  A ‘first’ for me to see this alpine in the wild in the UK.  Among other treasures were Viola lutea in both colour forms and Gentiana verna which was going over.  Picture quality not good enough to post.  What better way to indulge one’s passion than to seek out these plants while spending a week in a cottage on an Alpine Nursery in a stunning location with equally stunning weather.

[François Lambert]

spotted in a wilder part of the garden, apparently happy to grow between nethles and solidago in the shade of trees (ashes & linden).  No idea what it is.  The flower vaguely makes me think of an inkberry (Phytolacca), but from what I can see of the plant it is not.  Anyway, nice to see how new plants enter the garden.

[ian mcdonald]

 Francois,  I can,t see the leaves properly. Could your plant be a Reseda? They usually flower in summer.

[Matt T]

June is orchid season!

Platanthera bifolia - lesser butterfly orchid
Dactylorhiza purpurella - northern marsh orchid
Anacamptis pyramidalis - pyramidal orchid
Dactylorhiza fuschii subsp. hebridensis - common spotted orchid
Dactylorhiza incarnata subsp. coccinea - early marsh orchid

[Matt T]

Botrychium lunaria - moonwort grows in our lawn.

[shelagh]

On the Latterbarrow reserve last Monday, we were wilting from the heat but the plants weren't. Here are some pics. I never attempt to identify orchids I don't know enough about them except they are beautiful and were here in profusion.