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
I only watched two episodes: most of the others, though recorded, got deleted either unwatched or halfway in when I lost the will to live!
ReplyDeleteThat said, I'd be very interested to visit the ones in China and was very envious of his access to the private ones in Japan. You can't beat Japan (and the episode made me cry *and* featured some cherry blossom which I saved to show Maggie)
(PS I've just thought if you haven't trawled through all my years of archives - and why would you?! - then M was born in Japan at the height of the cherry-blossom season. Hence the cherry interest!)
ReplyDeleteHope you enjoy the account of our coffee at Poundbury.
ReplyDeleteESTHER IN THE GARDEN (21st April)
It was great meeting you!
Esther
Really! Obviously some one can't count! I watched most of the programmes which I thoroughly enjoyed although many of the gardens were not to my liking!
ReplyDeleteI'd like to visit the Abbey Garden on Tresco again to have a proper look round now that I'm more than an armchair gardener at long last! xx
Must admit I would have liked more gardens and a little less Monty looking into the middle distance with his notebook.
ReplyDeletei cannot watch Monty Don
ReplyDeleteSo I cannot comment.
Regards
Karen
I didn't watch this series as I am biased towards British gardens. I would like to visit Christopher Lloyd's garden at Great Dixter. I have liked what I have seen on the TV and it is fairly local to us. x
ReplyDeleteI missed the series. How would you rate the book ? I quite like monty
ReplyDeleteI watched most of the series but preferred soeme episodes to others. I particularly found the Aussie episode interesting and the S Africa one. I was disappointed with the USA episode as he seemed to imply that all the Americans do is care about their front lawns and we know from all the gardening blogs that this simply isnt true
ReplyDeleteLisa - I kept on falling asleep half way through the programme! I also got very irritatted during the Japan programme, thinking he wasn't going to show the cherry blossom and then it got an all too brief mention - grrrr! And yes, I have read some of your stuff about Japan - I'm very envious of your travels!
ReplyDeleteEsther - I did & I hope you enjoyed mine!
Flighty - good choice!
Frankie - I quite agree, see my comment for Lisa...
Karen - looks like we all can't watch Monty Don at the mo, so you can safely watch GW over the next few weeks
Louise - that's one on my list too, shame Christopher Lloyd is no longer there though
Dee - welcome! I find MD troublesome as a presenter, but as a writer he's much better. I haven't finished the book yet (it came very late after GW magazine had a mix up with me and my subscription freebie book), but I'd say already it's much better than the programme. I haven't fallen asleep yet whilst reading it ;)
Helen - I loved the Aussie episode as I love the Sydney Botanic Gardens. I also liked the S American one.