That blue flower: A spring spotter's guide
Spring is a prime time for blue flowers and my daily walks currently have several from the same plant family* lining the local footpaths. As I walked past the Donkey Field the other day, I overheard some children ask their parents** what the pictured blue flower was. It reminded me it's often mistaken for those other familial blues and this time was no different, as they said it was forget-me-not, instead of the green alkanet it actually is. As well as similar flowers, most of these plants are hairy in their nature, flower around the same time, and favour damp, shady places. Many of them are great for pollinators too, especially bees and this week's warm weather has certainly drawn them to these flowers. This makes it even more likely for these plants to be mistaken for each other and it's a great opportunity for me to put together a spotter's guide in case you find the same flowers on your outings. Staying with green alkanet, the key features which set it
Very nie poetry Veg, I like it very much also creatively done.
ReplyDeleteHAPPY VALENTINE:)
TO YOU AND YOUR FAMILY
JoAnn D-eyes/NL
I like your poem ... Happy Valentine's Day to you!
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment earlier re: roses & Kenya. I have done more reading on this ... the environmental issues are troubling. Since reading this book, I've also discovered that Ethiopia is also a producer.
I think I read that Kenya provides 70% of all roses sold in Europe. This whole issue is worrisome. I'm spending some time looking for more info. on the internet.
Joann & Kate - thanks for stopping by today. Happy Valentine's to you both!
ReplyDeleteKate - have a look at the Earthwatch website (www.Earthwatch.org) - there should be some information about the research David Harpur is doing on the environmental impacts around Lake Naivasha. I used to work for Earthwatch and know David well. If there's no joy there, David researches at Leicester University, so there should be something on their website.
I like the ring of that poem!
ReplyDelete:-)
Hi there,
ReplyDeleteThank you for the info on Earthwatch - I've become fascinated by this issue. (Do you have an email address - I can be reached at katesmudges@gmail.com. I wanted to discuss this in more detail ...
Kate (who ate too much cake and chocolate today!!)
So creative and with only magnets. Hope you had a lovely Valentine's celebration.
ReplyDeleteHi Nikki - I'm glad you like it. It sums up how I feel when I think of you know who!
ReplyDeleteKate - I hope you got my follow up e-mail? It looks like you had a good Valentine's ;)
avcr8teur - you're too kind! It got a bit more difficult as the year progressed as my self imposed rule was to use up words in 1 poem and not reusing them later. You'll see that in later posts!
Hope you all had a great Valentine's - I did :)