garden withoutdoors

I have an embarrassment of riches of bees and wildflowers, bees on: poppies, cornflower, melancholy thistle, sheepsbit, fringecups and green alkanet. I am loving my garden at this time

bees on red / field / common poppy

bee on cornflower

bees on melancholy thistle

bee on sheepsbit

bees on fringecups

bee on green alkanet

bee in hollyhock

hollyhocks self-seeding in pavement cracks round the corner, after I had put a hollyhock in a pot by my neighbour's front door

I am loving my sheepsbit. I attempted to grow from seed last year but all the seedlings seem to die. One appeared in the centaurea dealbata pot although I didn't know what it was. I don't know how it got there but I feel very lucky.

the entire plant, sharing the Centaurea dealbata's pot

the pot behind (above) is a Green Wizard echinacea which was badly slug-eaten - had no leaves but since I've been picking off slugs and snails each evening, a few leaves have grown

My first two red poppies. A bee was on one yesterday but didn't get my camera in time.

a bee on a green alkanet, my bees are loving it

my bees are also loving the nepeta

I am lucky to have occasional access to the closed, walled Jewish cemetery in Brady Street, Whitechapel, East London. Sometimes it's severely mown, sometimes it's full of wildflowers. Last weekend it was full of wildflowers.

forget-me-not close-up of the flower

forget-me-not entire plant

the purple flowers are geranium molle

comfrey

smooth sow thistle with a very thick stem

bellis perennis

white deadnettle and hawkweed which has spread extensively

smooth sow thistle

cow parsley, green alkanet and bellis perennis throughout the cemetery

I am so happy to see the pink woodsorrel has grown back after being mown down

the buds are like little sticks

one bud just starting to open, the plants form a dome as all the unbranched stems grow directly from the ground

green alkanet

prickly sow thistle

buttercups

hawkweed

buttercup

spear thistle

plantain young plants before flowers surrounded by bellis perennis

geranium molle

a shrub has completely enveloped this gravestone

small nettle grows extensively in the cemetery, it's had years to spread, there's a carpet of it along the path

closer view of the small nettle

plants growing along the top of the wall, cow parsley in front of the wall

on three sides there are modern housing estates on the other side of the wall and a school on the 4th side; sadly I spend a good deal of time on every visit picking up rubbish

hawkweed growing along the top of the wall

Lots of things in bud if not in bloom yet: small scabious, poppy, sea holly, sunflowers and green alkanet and forget-me-not throughout.

monarda and cornflowers

I have lots of wildflowers in my garden anyway but this little patch has become the wildflower area: stinging nettle, swinecress, betony, jacob's ladder, fox-and-cubs, hogweed and green alkanet throughout.

betony, a couple small plants I got from the garden centre in the "wildflower" range

stinging nettle, teasel right in front of Rocky

stinging nettle, swinecress, hogweed

on the left, jacob's ladder from the garden centre "wildflower" range, hogweed and fox-and-cubs in the pot on the right, green alkanet

ranunculus, globe thistle behind

ranunculus bud eaten out by a caterpillar

February 20th I noticed this new waste ground which looks recently filled with soil by workmen. I noticed there's just the start of some plants. I was curious which plants appear first so took a closer look.

these small rosettes are different, one swinecress, the other mayweed, scented / unscented / pineapple weed?

21-3-2021

31-3-2021

18-4-2021

a few weeks later, despite no rain, a number of further plants have grown

the feathery mayweed-type plant turned out to be pineapple weed

some sort of polygonum?, persicaria? has sprouted

I think this is a poppy

25-4-2021

3-5-2021

lesser swinecress

after observing the swinecress for a couple months, I was able to observe the resulting fruits which are lesser swinecress

polygonums, awaiting more details to identify definitively

chickweed

speedwell

sticky mouseear

9-5-2021

I have a bad feeling my fun in observing wild plants growing is coming to an end. A bag of grass seed has been put there, presumably to sow it imminently.

20-5-2021

the area is now full of plants and very green

more poppies have appeared, I think they're poppies

the pineapple weed has grown extremely well

smooth sow thistle appeared (on the left) and just one small stinging nettle (on the right)

poppies growing well

a vetch has appeared

close-up of the vetch

more polygonums have appeared and someone has thrown down some grass seed

it's taken a while for a thistle to appear, also oxalis has appeared

this has appeared but not certain what it is, also unknown small seedling above and to the right

24-5-2021 fat hen or orache has appeared, (I have difficulty telling them apart) a Chenopodium anyway, surprised it's taken so long

a few plantain-like plants have appeared but not sure about all of them yet

above and below certainly look like plantain

now that I look at this one again I'm not at all sure

although all the feathery plants appeared to all be pineapple weed, some have grown taller and have white flowers so are obviously different, a mayweed I expect, I need to go back and take photos of flowers and see if they have a scent

no doubt whatsoever about popppies with buds appearing

polygonums continue to increase, not sure specific species, I await flowers

this one looks a bit different and has thinner leaves

this does not have pronounced red at the "knots"

this was the original polygonum, more stinging nettle has appeared

another polygonum?

smooth sow thistle has appeared

and thistle (creeping thistle?) has appeared

this has appeared, uncertain to me, will observe with plantain seedlings to the right

and a common vetch has grown

7-6-2021 scarlet pimpernel has appeared and the fruits of the swinecress are visible indicating lesser swinecress

Reviewing what has grown in this patch, I'm fascinated by what has appeared and when. I am assuming all the seeds / roots were in the soil when it was brought in. I don't see there would have been enough time for seeds to come in.

February/March first 2 weeks: lesser swinecress, pineapple weed, chickweed

April, after 4 to 6 weeks: polygonums (not sure which specifically), stinging nettle, poppy, common field speedwell, sticky mouse-ear

May, after 8 to 10 weeks: common vetch, dandelion, groundsel, oxalis

end of May after 12 weeks: smooth sow thistle, plantain, fat hen, creeping thistle, scented mayweed (some of what appeared to be pineapple weed turned out to be scented mayweed)

June after 14 weeks: scarlet pimpernel

29-5-2021 I don't know what's going on here but over half of the plants are destroyed. On purpose? Did they need to store some equipment there? Very sad.

There's a patch of annual wall rocket (Diplotaxis muralis) I see locally which I struggle to photograph clearly, especially without the dog poop. There's not much green around there so this tree pit seems to be a favourite for dogs.

I wish I had a clear photo of a wall rocket rosette to add to my Rosettes page. I've had to blank out the dog poop in the photo above.

My auriculas are not behaving very well - they should be specimen blooms but they're sprawling with lots and lots of flowers!

the lack of rain has been heart-breaking, rough hawk's-beard (Crepis vesicaria) struggling to grow in difficult conditions

this was it back on 18-3-2021

and a week or so later with visible buds

close-up of those buds

some other previously dandelion-looking Crepis vesicarias

this photo was taken back in March and I thought it looked rather dandelion-like but was advised it was indeed Crepis vesicaria, as shown above, it is indeed Crepis vesicaria

she likes to poop in my pots

I do have a lot of pots in the garden. The sunniest side of the garden is the patio so to grow anything there, it has to be in a pot

annoyingly, I cannot find one of my pots, did a fox carry it off? I went next door and looked but couldn't find it, it's like a bad dream

Tulip whittallii with the muscari latifolium

I am loving the muscari latifolium

these muscari latifolium have been great this year

my first anemone in bloom

Victor and Rocky

snakeshead fritillary

green alkanet, one of my favourite flowers in the garden

forget-me-not

polyanthus

red deadnettle

I am loving the muscari latifolium. I love those tightly packed buds.

I welcome dandelions now in the garden for bees and any other insects that need them.