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 still remember as a child the joy of walking through a deep layer of fallen leaves and kicking them in the air. I still get the urge!
ReplyDeleteLeaves, leaves and more leaves. Once you start looking at them as a valuable addition to compost they don't seem quite such a chore to pick up.
ReplyDeleteI to love kicking through piles of crunchy leaves and still do . It's one of life's pleasures.
VP .. it still looks like summer there girl ! aside from a few leaves on the ground ? LOL
ReplyDeleteWe Canadians go through a more dramatic change .. sort of a menopausal change compared to slight PMS seasonal change ? haha
Sorry ... I am naughty .. I know : )
EG - so do I! It's one of the highlights of the year :)
ReplyDeletednd - my niece won an art competition a couple of years ago for her picture of leaf jumping. I still love to jump!
Joy - it's changing oh so rapidly here. Will be posting more soon.