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buds mid-September 2022

Japanese anemone

japanese anemone

nipplewort

nipplewort

nipplewort

shoofly buds

shoofly buds

bee inside shoofly flower

shoofly buds and flower with bee

closer view of that bee in a shoofly flower

shoofly flower with bee

shoofly

shoofly

shoofly

new growth with a bit of rain

the plants have responded amazingly well to a bit of rain

greater knapweed

greater knapweed

greater knapweed showing the lower leaves

greater knapweed

evening primrose, I was thinking of putting this with my pavement plants as it's growing in a crack but it's paving on my patio so not the usual pavement plant, I fear if I try to pull it up I'd destroy it so I'll see how far it can get like this

evening primrose

a flowering stem shot up from this verbascaum rosette and has bloomed

verbascum

some new growth on the purple loosestrife and some fresh flowers which the bees are loving

purple loosestrife

new scabious flower

scabious

cornflower Blue Carpet

cornflower Blue Carpet

cornflower Blue Carpet

cornflower Blue Carpet

verbascum with multiple flowering stems

verbascum

I suddenly noticed an entire comfrey plant yesterday with lots of buds

comfrey

greater celandine was brown and dead and now has some fresh green growth

greater celandine

huge teasel leaves on the left, new leaves growing from the base of the heleniums

the hogweed was looking quite brown and spent but now there is fresh green growth

common hogweed

sage looking good after being smothered by other plants

sage

knautia macedonica rosette

knautia rosette

pineapple sage

pineapple sage

chicory leaves of a mature plant

chicory leaves

the muscari were growing well in these pots but after not enough water they were wilted like the middle two but after recent water, two of the pots (top and bottom) have green growth

muscari

I love echium vulgare. So pleased to see it self-seeding from this year's plant. I hope I find others in the garden.

echium vulgare

next to that echium vulgare is a borage

borage seedling

I didn't plant any shoo-fly seeds this year but I had lots sprouting from my home-made compost. I potted them up hoping for flowers. The earlier buds (on the plant behind) did not really produce flowers. The flowers seemed to wilt before they opened. My ginger cat Victor in the doorway.

shoo-fly

those shoo-fly plants have lots of buds, hoping for decent flowers

shoo-fly buds

peanut - not one I planted, I usually notice peanut shoots when they are smaller than this but the other day, I suddenly saw this peanut small plant

peanut

 

pavement plants 2022

Sept 2022

I've seen lots of pavement plants so far this year but not so many in recent weeks with the drought and heatwave.

beginning of September 2022, there's been a bit of rain so some plants have grown

bristly oxtongue

bristly oxtongue

I don't think I've seen pale flax as a pavement plant before. I'm impressed this one has gotten to this size and so many flowers (without Veolia / Idverde destroying it).

pale flax

snapdragons, not the usual pavement plant but no doubt a garden escapee

snapdragon

creeping thistle, I've never seen it like this with new plants growing like this along a stem (on the right)

creeping thistle

creeping thistle

end of August 2022

It's been such an inhospitable environment, I've hardly been out botanising but was out looking at bollards the other day and came across a few plants, of course, some always find a way.

Oxalis corniculata

oxalis corniculata

I'm not sure what these next two are

I think this is Eastern rocket, a very variable plant anyway but this one is struggling in this concrete environment

eastern rocket

eastern rocket

some rain at last

I've hardly had any passionflower flowers this year. Since the rain, this one bloomed.

passionflower

chicory

chicory

veronica longifolia final flowers

veronica longifolia

teasel rosette, first year

teasel first year

another water lily blooming - with a hoverfly (at first I thought it was a bee but now, processing the photo, I see it's a hoverfly)

water lily with hoverfly

my Japanese anemones were looking terrible but after some long-awaited rain, they've revived and this one is being visited by a hoverfly (again, what I initially thought was a bee)

japanese anemone

my milk parsley was almost dying but I've been watering its pot and the worst of the heat has abated

milk parsley

I love those purple stems

milk parsley

heterophylly

In recent years I’ve been keeping the dandelions in my garden for the bees whereas before, I’m embarrassed to say, I used to remove them. One of my long-term goals is to learn more about them and how to identify them.
 
If dandelions are in my garden or local to me, it’s a lot easier to observe them. I’ve noticed how the initial dandelion basal rosette leaves are different from the later leaves.I’ve seen this rosette near me in Jeffrey’s St since July 2021. I wasn’t even sure it was a dandelion.
 
dandelion rosette
 
By March 2022 it was looking more like a dandelion and had lots of buds.
 
dandelion buds
 
By April 2022 it bloomed. I have to be careful taking photos of urban wild plants as so often people see me paying attention and promptly remove them.
 
dandelions
 
I decided to research these dandelions at the LNHS library and read about these varying leaves
 
 
and learned it’s called heterophylly
 
 
The dandelion rosette in one of my pots was enormous in October 2021
 
dandelion
 
. By February 2022, fresh, smaller leaves in the centre, that’s heterophylly.

dandelion

mid-August 2022

hoverfly on a "pink dandelion" (Crepis rubra)

hoverfly crepis rubra

I am trying to water my pots sparingly, especially those with flowers for pollinators so the "pink dandelions" (Crepis rubra) are still blooming. I'm loving these this summer - fast flowers from seed.

crepis rubra

and some of the spent flowers

crepis rubra

crepis rubra

I love chicory. I grew these from seed but it's been challenging. They're biennial so it's been a long time waiting for flowers and trying to keep the slugs off them. I only have 1 plant left from about half a dozen.

chicory

chicory

some new chicory buds

chicory bud

chicory bud

my lone water lily this year, it lives in a trug after the barrel it was in collapsed; that got very low on water with the drought and heatwave and I think I topped up the water only just in time

water lily

aster in bloom, seems early, I imagine it's the heat that's brought on early blooms

aster

Victor (and all the cats) struggling to find shade to avoid the heat

borage buds

borage buds

I'm not sure what this seedling is. I think I've seen it before but can't remember.

this amaranthus has self-seeded in one of my pots, will keep an eye on it as it develops to see if I can identify it to species

the flower reminds me of some plantain species

amaranthus flower

amaranthus flower

beginning of August 2022

Review of some of the wildflowers that bloomed from the wildflower seed mix I bought at Sainsbury's

I never thought of rocket as a wildflower but the mix included it

rocket flower

canary grass, I had seen this in a seed catalogue or somewhere and was thinking of getting some, so I was pleased to see it

canary grass

annual mallow (Malva trimestris)

mallow

malva trimestris

malva trimestris cheese

malva trimestris cheese

there was dill but it was difficult to get an in-focus photo, the resulting seedheads were easier to capture

dill seedheads

also in the mix: poached egg plant (see earlier blog entry)

 

hollyhocks with a bee

hollyhocks with bee

hollyhocks with bee

hollyhocks with bee

hollyhocks

Crepis rubra with hoverfly

crepis rubra

mallow

evening primrose

evening primrose

end of July 2022

my friendly fox, within a couple minutes that bowl was licked clean 

garden fox

Rocky with the catnip (Nepeta cataria) I grew from seed

cat with nepeta cataria catnip

cat with nepeta cataria catnip

purple loosestrife with bee

purple loosestrife with bee

heleniums with a bee

helenium with bee

heleniums with bee

heleniums with bee

the bees are loving the globe thistles, they've been great as they survived the drought and heatwave with no watering

globe thistle with bees

the heleniums are looking good and the bees are visiting but they're in pots so I have to water them

helenium

I had a few evening primrose that had self-seeded so put them all together in a pot (some were larger than others) and the next day one bloomed

evening primrose

hollyhocks blooming but they're all white and pink, I have been watering them a bit as they're newly planted out but they shouldn't need watering once they're established

hollyhocks

bowl of water out for birds and insects but haven't seen either visiting it

hollyhocks

hollyhocks

Scarecrow on the right, this is in my neighbour's garden, he often goes with me if I go over to water or photograph

hollyhocks

globe thistles in bloom with bees

globe thistles in bloom this week (mid-July) with bees

globe thistle bees

globe thistle bee

globe thistle bee

globe thistle bee

The artichokes are in bloom - in my garden, next door's garden and the next one up - makes a fabulous sight - people stop and look walking past. There are bees visiting them but the plants are too tall for me to take a decent photo.

artichokes

artichokes

wildflower seeds

Sometimes when I go to Sainsbury's I can't resist making an impulse purchase of seeds or bulbs - even though I've already ordered plenty of seeds and bulbs! I bought some wildflower seeds there earlier this year, and of course, had very little room in the garden for them so they were very badly eaten by slugs as I had no room to keep them off the ground, so the fact that a few things survived is a miracle. These poached egg plants are one of the miracles. I've not grown them before and for a long time before they bloomed I didn't know what they were. Also survived: Phacelia tanacetifolia, Malva neglecta and another mallow which I'm not sure of and rocket.

poached egg plant (Limnanthes douglasii)

poached egg plant Limnanthes douglasii

poached egg plant Limnanthes douglasii

poached egg plant Limnanthes douglasii

poached egg plant Limnanthes douglasii

Malva neglecta

malva neglecta

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