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
Wonderful colours
ReplyDeleteThanks Gwenfar - I like the atmosphere of this photo as mist was just beginning to descend on the fields at the bottom of the hill as the sun was going down. Victoria was telling me yesterday on her Awkward Hill blog that this particular ash are a popular choice for public planting as they cope with compaction. Fingers crossed they don't succumb to ash die back.
ReplyDeleteA fabulous comment from Kris at KGarden again, who used my Contact Form when there was a problem with the OpenId process...
ReplyDeleteThere are lots of Ash Raywood in the Highway's roadside planting along the
edge of the A605, driving West from the Peterborough junction of the A1(M),
which look lovely when they Turn in the Autumn - eventually becoming almost
black. I spent years driving that route wondering what they were before
stopping some years ago and taking a leaf home to figure out what species,
let alone variety!, they were - it doesn't look much like an Ash at first
glance!
I have tried to buy some for my area of Autumn Garden here, but sadly with
the Ash Die-back threat the nursery was not allowed to transport them.
Fingers crossed that the existing plants survive the threat.
Thanks for your persistence with commenting Kris :)
DeleteYou've reminded me that I was researching the Road Beautifying Scheme which used to advise on the best roadside trees to plant around the country a number of years ago. I was first struck by the trees on the A34 travelling down to Portsmouth and soon after found a tiny snippet about the scheme in a book on the history of Hilliers nursery. I must pick up that thread again...
Ha! I don't mean I was literally struck by the trees, but by their beauty one sunny November day!
DeleteI love this photo and the title is fantastic. I think it's one of my favourite posts on Veg Plotting, for all its simplicity.
ReplyDeleteThanks Lucy, that's kind of you to say :) As you know I have a thing about public planting and I'm pleased I was able to post a good photo of something so ordinary and every day as a supermarket car park.
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