Weekend Wandering: a new wildflower on the block


Oh how the world has changed in what seems like the twinkling of an eye. We're now confined to home here in the UK, let out just once a day for exercise. I have a goal to #walk1000miles this year, which is proving more of a challenge now walks need to start from my own front door.

I've devised a 3.3 mile circular route which will allow me to achieve my goal if I walk it every day... and just as I was getting a bit tired of it on Wednesday, up pops a new wildflower in a quite unlikely place in the shape of the white form of the sweet violet, Viola odorata. Have a look at the link for some delightful stories associated with this wildflower.

I found it just outside the entrance of one of the local secondary schools just up the hill from where I live. There's a narrow stretch of grass there by the tarmac path which is currently bejewelled with lesser celandine and a couple of clumps of my new discovery. As the school is built on the site of the former Hardenhuish estate, and the grass soon merges with some remnant woodland close by, I'm pretty certain I'm looking at the wildflower, rather than the cultivated form.

It just goes to show we should never take anywhere for granted, no matter how familiar or humble they may be. It's good to have a reminder in this strange and shrunken new world there are always fresh discoveries to be made. I'm a little late for Wildflower Wednesday, but seeing I made my discovery on that day, I'm sure Gail won't mind I'm a little late to the party.

Comments

  1. Flighty28 March 2020 at 16:36

    Well spotted, it's a lovely flower. Take care. xx

    ReplyDelete
  2. Gail28 March 2020 at 20:11

    I would love to walk with you! I am SO going to miss seeing you this year. Warmest spring wishes. xoxo

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. VP29 March 2020 at 10:42

      Dear Gail, we'd have so much fun. Seeing you next year will be even sweeter now we can't get together in 2020 :) xxx

      Delete
  3. Anna29 March 2020 at 11:15

    Oh that's a lovely discovery VP. Purple violas are out there in abundance but the white flowering ones are certainly more shy. I hope that you and NAH are both well and stay well. Good luck with your walking goal.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. VP30 March 2020 at 10:53

      Hi Anna - I think the walking goal is doable as long as I don't get fed up with the walks available from my front door. Having said that, my urban walks are at least blessed with plenty of greenery. As for us... well, today's post explains a bit more...

      Delete
  4. Diana Studer29 March 2020 at 21:58

    Trying to maintain fitness with 20 minutes of circuits round my garden - is showing me things I usually miss there too. This year I WILL see each pot of bulbs emerge.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. VP30 March 2020 at 10:55

      There's a few people who've run a marathon around their gardens - with the circuits involved in the hundreds, even over a thousand! This year, our gardens will be immaculate or wild and woolly if preferred... and we'll know a whole lot more about the life within them. I think of it as a shrunken world which will expand outwards in quite a different way.

      Delete
  5. VP30 March 2020 at 10:57

    Good wishes to Flighty, Gail, Anna and Diana... and everyone else who reads this. Keep well and see you on the other side xxx

    ReplyDelete
  6. TheGardenDiaries30 March 2020 at 13:39

    Always nice to find a new thing!
    Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. VP6 April 2020 at 10:18

      I hope to find more new things in the weeks to come!

      Delete

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