Wildflower Wednesday – late February 2015

This picture sums up the look on the Duver at the moment as the season changes from winter to spring.  Much of the Duver is still brown, but there are increasing  flashes of green.  The leaves above are of one of three yellow tree lupins which reach up to about 5 foot.  The perfect new leaves look so fresh and optimistic against the surrounding drab.

Another promise of the future is this perfect rosette of Digitalis, covered with an almost Jenga like formation of dried out grasses.

There’s plenty of fresh green growth on the Butterbur,

and more flowers than I remember seeing in the past.

There are also still a lot of Wild Garlic or Ramsons,  Allium ursinum, flowering, particularly in one spot at the base of an oak,

as well as, close by, Winter Cress, Barbarea vulgaris, which I haven’t noticed before.

And, whilst I like to think that spring is on its way, there doesn’t seem to be much sign in a whole month from January’s photo, on the left, to this!

Roll on March!

With thanks as ever to Gail at Clay and Limestone for hosting the Wildflower Wednesday meme.

 

 

 

 

Wildflower Wednesday – January 2015

These photos were actually taken on Saturday because it was just such a beautiful morning.  Quite a contrast from this morning’s walk, when the wind was blowing the rain horizontally!

The picture above shows the lovely tracery of branches of our old friend, the over-the-road-oak.

Googling ‘Sea Beet’ for this week’s post, I came across the following article from the Guardian from Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, which highlights three plants which can be foraged in the UK. All of them are growing on the Duver and looking good right now, in the middle of winter -Alexanders, Smyrnium olusatrum

Sea beet, Beta vulgaris subsp. maritima

and Wild garlic or Ramsons,  Allium ursinum.

I’ve never foraged from the Duver (other than blackberries) but I’ve definitely enjoyed wild garlic.  However, that has been picked from my garden, where I’m desperately trying to eradicate it!

There really isn’t much sea beet on the Duver so I think that should be left well alone, but there must be nearly an acre of Alexanders.  Perhaps I should give that a try – according to Hugh F-W “The flavour is aromatic, fragrant – a little musky, a touch juniper-ish”.

In addition to the three plants above, I saw plenty of Winter heliotrope or Butterbur, Petasites fragrans.

Gorse, Ulex europaeus

and something I’ve not seen before.  These fresh, green, sword shaped leaves were obscured by scrubby growth that was removed by the National Trust earlier in the year.  This has opened up the view and also cleared the area to allow these plants to thrive.  I think they must be Iris foetidissima, see close up of leaves below.

Assuming that’s what they are, I look forward to seeing them all in flower.

To finish, a couple more photos – the first showing the marram grass, Ammophila,  glossy in the winter sunshine,

and a final one, a little nod towards spring.

With thanks as ever to Gail at Clay and Limestone for hosting the Wildflower Wednesday meme.