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 ...
My Woody and Ike were not included in the study! Those mice would not have lived nearly that long. My cat's can run faster and longer than any mouse! Watch out Stuart Little!
ReplyDeleteOur 2 cats are the same - we're getting a "present" from them several times a week at the moment. Luckily we can intercept most of them and release them back into the wild, some distance away from the house.
ReplyDeleteMind you, I think we must have a special strain of unintelligent mice around here. One mouse during the summer took up residence in our kitchen, where it had found a nice snuggly hole under one of our cupboards. Unfortunately for it, this was right by the cats' feeding station, so they spent hours staking out their new fast food outlet!