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
Depends on where I am and whether I've got my specs on or not but I detect shades of squirrel :)
ReplyDeleteThat's two for 'squirrel' and...
ReplyDeletea friendly dinosaur wearing a high crown or elvis hair caught in the wind
a bug-eyed, squished-up donkey with a high crown or elvis hair caught in the....
I saw an owl, but it also reminds me of the talking tree in David Jone's (Melbourne department store) Charistmas cave.
ReplyDeleteBunny rabbit
ReplyDeleteI'm with victoria!
ReplyDeleteHi everyone! Some interesting suggestions - I 'saw' a rabbit when I looked at this tree whilst we were in Cornwall.
ReplyDelete