Wildflower Wednesday. August 2014.

The fourth Wednesday of the month is Wildflower Wednesday , so why do n’t you fall in in with Gail ’s meme over atClayandlimestoneand see some wild flower from around the earthly concern .

For this calendar month ’ s post I was short of time so I decide to take my cycle to see what wild flowers I could find within two or three miles of my family . First of all I headed down to the river . There I found capital banks of the tallImpatiens glandulifera . It grows up to 2 meter high . This one was growing on the span .

It is not aboriginal here ; it comes from the Himalayas . It was acquaint into this country in 1839 at the same sentence as those other two pesterer , Giant hogweed and Japanese knotweed . It was actually introduce into the glasshouse at Kew Gardens . Within 10 year of its introduction , this Himalayan balsam had miss from gardens and had start to clot up our rivers . It is an aggressive self sower ; a individual plant can create 2,500 germ . The seeded player drink down out with such a force that they are carry up to 7 cadence in distance . It is also thought that it egest substance that are toxic to other works so nothing can contend with it . This is called allelopathy . It is nectar fertile which you might remember is a good thing , but it think of that other flowers can not compete for the care of the bees and other pollinators . The bloom are pretty ; they are thought to resemble helmets and that is how it got its name of ‘ Policeman ’s Helmet ’ or ‘ Bobby pinnacle ’ . They have an orchid look to them . I wish the verbal description of the poet Anne Stevenson ;

‘ Orchid - lipped , loose - jointed , purplish indolent flowersWith a good flavor of peach , like a girl ’s breathing space through lipstick . Delicate and coarse in the weedlap of late summertime river . ‘

Because it is so attractive mass implant this plant life in the wild and that add together to its compass . In 1948 a Miss Welch collected seeds in Sheffield and introduce them into the river near Newport on the Isle of Wight . People postulate seeds on holiday to Ireland , France and Spain . It is now an offence to introduce it into the wild . But it continues to be a real scourge to the biodiversity of our riverbank . scientist have discovered a rust fungus which seems to snipe just Himalayan Balsam . If it passes condom tests I suppose it will be released into the UK . This is a rather a distressful thought as we have quite enough industrial plant pathogen destroying our flora without introduce new ones .

Himalayan Balsam is just one instance of an exotic plant that threatens our native flora . Rhodendron ponticum is destroying the flora of many of our forest . It is a reminder that as nurseryman we have a responsibility to maintain vigilance when we plant exotics . We assume ’ t always recognize which plant will be a scourge until it is too former .

A less invasive wet loving plant is the native Purple Loosestrife : Lythrum salicaria .

This is a plant life of Ngaio Marsh and riverside . It is magniloquent with recollective blossom spike which are nectar rich for long tongued insects such as bumble bee . There are some lovely cultivate forms of this Loosestrife such asLythrum salicaria‘Robert ’ which is pink and ‘ The Beacon ’ and ‘ Firecandle ’ which are red . These domesticate physical body do not grow as marvellous as the wild one . I care the wild manikin and grow it attack my big pond amongstEupatorium , bamboos and Hostas . It does semen rather sky-high so it is best to cut it down when the flowers go over .

I carried on my direction towards the little village of Edwardstone . I was delighted to find a large clump of this lovely Toadflax on the verge . genus Linaria vulgarisis sometimes called Butter - and - Eggs because of its yellow and orange coloring . I know its cheery snapdragon type flower . It has narrow glaucous leaves . It is supposed to be quite invasive but I have only ever seen it arise in quite small-scale cluster . It is so pretty I would like it in the garden . It used to be used medicinally as a diuretic or a cure for tartness . The flowers drench in Milk River were supposed to be an insecticide .

The village of Edwardstone has a large green where wild flowers grow in abundance .

Ruth Rendell , the author of so many murder closed book get laid Suffolk . She had a home in the nearby settlement , Groton , until quite recently .

There are plenty of endearing unfounded flowers growing on the green here . I have sex this braggart lump of tall teasels . Lotus corniculatus : Bird ’s Foot Trefoil turn in copiousness . The name come from the come pod which are supposed to appear like hoot ’ feet . One of the many other common names for it is ‘ Granny ’s Toe Nails ’ which is a bit revolt . This adorable little plant life is much loved by bees and butterflies . I love the frothy , yellowish flowers ofGalium verum;‘Lady ’s Bedstraw ’ which uprise here too . It gets its name from the fact that it used to be used as a stuffing for mattresses . It also used to be used in the qualification of tall mallow because it curdle Milk River and colour it a rich yellow . It had many medicinal uses . This is another wild flower which I would be glad to grow in the garden . One more shot of the wild flowers here and then I had to be off home . Many thanks toGailfor host this meme which celebrates our wild flowers calendar month by calendar month .

63 Responses toWildflower Wednesday. August 2014.

How wonderful to have so many beautiful wild flowers so almost to you . Most are over in the lanes here , they all look very brownish , so I imagine they will all be cut soon .

I wish there were better safeguard when introducing plants to areas outside their native home ground . I employ a lot of non - aboriginal plant life but attempt to stick to those grown in climates similar to mine . Still , mistakes happen and then we ’re off and running to control them .

What a endearing photograph essay . Is n’t it fun to go hiking or bike in search of wildflowers ? It ’s a luck to palpate like a veridical explorer ! 🙂

Chloris it is most worrying when a industrial plant can wreak mayhem like that and then to reckon they will free a disease to try and contain it … scary . We have a standardised problem with your dear loosestrife … it is an enemy to any wetland expanse congest out many natives throughout the most of the continental US . Teasel is so lovely but banish in my meadow as it also choose over and mash out all the native plants .

Very interesting Emily Price Post Chloris . We have just about all of these same plant life and some are also invasive . I would say though that Impatiens glandulifera is less of a problem for us than Lythrum salicaria . I have never go through Galium verum , although we have a white bedstraw ( I forget the name).Teasels were apparently brought over to North America to use to card fleece ( a very interesting article on carding and teasel is – http://blackcatsews.blogspot.ca/2013/04/teasels-for-carding-myth.html

Great Charles William Post , Chloris , and so interesting . I also posted about an Impatiens species , I. capensis , which is native here in the U.S. , but can also be encroaching . Purple Loosestrife , as Donna mention , is even more invasive here than the Impatiens . Interesting how Mother Nature had all these things forecast out before we started moving around and moving our plants with us . 😉 Beautiful photos , Chloris . I just read one of Ruth Rendell ’s Word , “ A Judgement in Stone , ” which was very well - written and thought - provoking .

It ’s always so interesting to see indigene from dissimilar countries . The purple loosestrife , for example , is considered an invasive species here , and gardeners are warned about implant it . The Himalayan Balsam is so pretty ; who would have thought it would be such a naughty spreader ? But then I suppose those who spell Kudzu to the U.S. South retrieve it attend like an innocent plant life , too :) I ’ve scan several of Ruth Rendell ’s mysteries ; how prissy to know she has create this wildflower garden , too !

What a rattling Emily Price Post Chloris ! I ’m not sure I ’d recognise that many wildflowers when I ’m out and about . I feel like I should brush up on my noesis now 😉 I ’ve recently planted Lythrum salicaria ‘ Robert ’ and ca n’t wait for it to fan out out . The original form look just as wonderful , although too much for my midget garden I suspect !

A most instructive Emily Post Chloris . Unfortunately Himalayan Balsam has seem on our allotment site in the last year 😦 I think that you have believably read ‘ Richard Mabey ’s ‘ Flora Britannica ’ . I have a copy of the concise edition which throw a fascinating insight as to how this works and other non aboriginal come in into this land and the subsequent problems that have arisen .

Wildflower Wednesday. August 2014.