Wild and Weedy Wednesday: Saxifraga granulata

I am resuming my weekly posts about wild flowers and ‘weeds’ – ‘Wild and Weedy Wednesday’ – that I started last year. I thought I would run out of plants last summer, after several months of posts, but found I was making lists of flowers to include this year! Anyway, if anyone wishes to join in with me and look at some of the wild flowers (or are they weeds?!) growing in our gardens, please do!

Last summer we did not mow the vast majority of our meadows at all, and have thus already noticed a difference in the wildflowers we are seeing. Today’s flower is a good example – we don’t recall having seen it here at all in 2023; Saxifraga granulata, or meadow saxifrage.

The creamy white flowers with striking yellow stamens have been bobbing around in the wind for over a week now, standing out on their dark stems at a height of around 40 cm. The flowers are perhaps 2 cm in diameter and have a kind of ‘vintage’ look to them.

They are found on hillsides of sandy dry grassland, where the soil is poor in nutrients and slightly acidic. I am very happy this native plant has made its way to our plot, as it is on the red list of endangered plants in Bavaria.

I wonder if you have ever seen this flower? Do share if it seems familiar, as I have no idea how widespread or rare it actually is.

Have a great Wednesday!

 

Wild and Weedy Wednesday: Coltsfoot

Some of my readers may remember I did a series of posts last year on wild flowers/weeds growing in and around my garden. Well, the series will continue this year, as there are still so many plants that I want to post about and share!

Yesterday I spotted the first wild flower of the year: Coltsfoot, Tussilago farfara.

What a wonderful sight amid the winter debris and moss! This small flower measures about 3cm when fully open, and grows on long scaly stems which continue to grow taller with the flower already open. The large leaves will emerge later – the leaves are what gives the plant its name as they supposedly resemble a colt’s foot!

The ground has to be at least 5°C before this plant will flower, so it is always a lovely find as it signifies the end of winter. In the phenological calendar we are therefore now officially in ‘Early Spring’. Hooray!

Interestingly, a report has shown that Coltsfoot in Germany still flowers at approximately the same time each year and has not reacted to ‘global warming’ at all…

I find it here directly outside our garden gate on the edge of the woods, and on our lane through the woods up to the main road. It is an old medicinal plant used primarily for tea that is said to help with coughs and asthma. As with all herbal medicines though, it should be used with caution, as too much can damage the liver.

Another interesting and useful fact is that the large leaves are soft and hairy on the underside, like tissue paper, and are a hiker’s friend when caught short in the woods! 😉

Do you see Coltsfoot near you? And if so, when does it usually start flowering?

My Wild and Weedy Wednesday posts will probably be a little intermittent until spring gets a foothold, but I just had to share this little ray of sunshine!

😁

A Week of Flowers 2023, Day Five

What? Day Five already? And so many flowers to share still! Join me for the last few days of my Week of Flowers, and share a photo of a flower you have grown this year, or perhaps seen in somebody else’s garden. And don’t forget to leave a link below. 😃

First of all, a few salvias. I love these flowers, and the bees do too! The first one is Salvia azurea, then comes ‘Aromax Blue’, and the last one is simply called ‘Peach’.

 

The next flowers were growing in our meadow this summer, and a couple were included in my ‘Wild and Weedy Wednesday’ posts this year, which I intend to resume next spring. 😃

Scot’s Thistle (Cirsium vulgare)

Wild Mallow (Malva sylvestris)

Orange Hawkweed (Hieracium aurantiacum)

Lady’s Smock (Cardamine pratensis)

Thank you to all who are joining in, sharing, liking, commenting etc! December has never looked brighter! 😉

See you tomorrow! 🙋‍♀️

Wild and Weedy Wednesday: 13th September, 2023

Over the past few months I have been sharing a weed/wild flower every week that grows in my garden. I added them up and I have covered over 20 different weeds and there are still so many I haven’t shared! But as the season is now changing and there is little new growth I will make this the last one for the time being and will probably continue next year. (I already have another ten on a list!)

So today I will end with a pretty yellow flower that has an unpronouncable botanical name and looks very much like a small dandelion. In fact it is often called ‘Autumn Dandelion’: Scorzoneroides autumnalis, Autumn Hawkbit.

It does actually have another botanical name, Leontodon autumnalis. Leondoton means ‘lion’s tooth’, like dandelion.

This started flowering at the end of August in the meadow and has continued into our warm and sunny September. The flowers are about 3cm in diameter, and grow on tall thin stems. In our garden they are getting to about 40cm or even taller.

The hover flies and small pollinators love them. Some have already started going to seed.

As with dandelions, the leaves are edible but bitter, which is what aids the digestion, and the roots can be boiled to make a coffee substitute. (I would have to be desperate!) It is also a diuretic, helpful in the treatment of kidney complaints.

It is native to Europe, but has spread across the globe. Have you seen it in your garden?

Well, one of my first weeds I posted about was the dandelion, so it seemed fitting to end this series with a similar plant. Here they all are again. If you click on the first photo you can see them as a slideshow with their botanical names.

Erodium cicutarium

Taraxacum officinale

Potentilla vrna

Cardamine pratensis

Rumex acetosella

Veronica chamaedrys

Hieracium aurantiacum

Trifolium pratense

Matricaria chamomilla

Hypericum perforatum

Lotus corniculatus

Achillea millefolium

Daucus carota

Erigeron annuus

Centaurea jacea

Cirsium arvense

Cirsium vulgare

Prunella vulgaris

Artemisia vulgaris

Solidago canadensis

Impatiens glandulifera

Plantago lanceolata

Scorzoneroides autumnalis

Which do you like best? 😉

Hope you have enjoyed seeing what grows wild and weedy on the edge of the Bavarian Forest here in Germany!

🐝🌻🐝

 

 

Wild and Weedy Wednesday: 30th August, 2023

The summer is drawing to a close but there are still a couple of weeds/wild flowers growing in or near my garden that I want to cover this year in my Wild and Weedy Wednesday posts. And this week’s is another neophyte – a non-native plant that has become quite invasive in parts of Germany and no doubt other areas in Europe:

Himalaya Balsam, Impatiens glandulifera

According to Wikipedia, ‘In Europe, Himalayan balsam has been included since 2017 in the list of Invasive Alien Species of Union concern’ and ‘the species cannot be imported, cultivated, transported, commercialized, planted, or intentionally released into the environment in the whole of the European Union.’

They grow up to 2 metres tall and have pale green foliage with a slight red tinge to the stems. The flowers are pink, and sticky with nectar. They emit a soapy scent which I personally find rather sickly. On a hot calm day I often get a whiff of them at least 50 metres away.

Here they grow along streams and river banks and on the edge of damp woodland areas. These are just a few metres beyond our fence on the lane up to the road.

They have a wonderful way of dispersing their seed, whereby tension builds up in the seedpod as it develops and then it suddenly pops and catapults the seed several metres. The German name for these weeds refers to that mechanism: ‘Indisches Springkraut’ (Indian spring weed).

The seed can lie dormant for years, but mowing down the plants before they flower or ripping them out altogether helps keep them confined. It has nonetheless become part of the landscape here and although it is beneficial to pollinators, especially as it blooms late in the year (late July or August until the first frosts), it is pushing back native plants that provide nectar earlier in the year and over several months.

It hasn’t quite made the jump into our garden yet, but you can see here it is right at the fence…

Let me in!

I wonder if you see this weed near (or even in!) your garden? Would love to hear if it has spread to where you live, so do let me know in the comments!

Thanks for reading, and happy weeding!

 

Wild and Weedy Wednesday: 23rd August, 2023

Continuing my weekly posts on weeds and/or wild flowers growing in my garden, I am sharing a beauty this week. Some of you may consider it an invasive nuisance. But personally I love it!

Goldenrod, Solidago canadensis

Just outside our fence, but still on our property!

The species that grows wild in abundance here is the non-native Solidago canadensis, while our own native one, Solidago virgaurea, is a much rarer sight. I have planted the latter in the garden, but it does not like its neighbours and refuses to thrive. The Canadian cousin is much less fussy and can be found on open banks, the edge of woods and on land disturbed by building projects. We have quite a bit in the damper spots of our garden and just outside our fence, but its deep roots mean it can survive in hot and dry locations too.

It started opening late July this year. But then a cool damp spell slowed it down.

Now, after some late summer sunshine, it has opened fully and is flowering in all its golden glory!

I class it as a wild flower rather than a weed. 😃 And I love using it in vases.

 

I have read that it can be used to dye cloth – a cloth of gold indeed. 😃

The name ‘solidago’ means ‘to make whole’ and this plant has been used in herbal medicine across the world for calming stomachs, healing wounds and treating bronchitis. But here I think it is known better as a magnet for bees, hoverflies, butterflies, every pollinator you can imagine, providing nectar late in the season.

I think Mary Oliver’s poem says it all, so I will leave you with it and wish you all a wonderful wild and weedy week in the garden! 😃

Goldenrod     by Mary Oliver

On roadsides,
in fall fields,
in rumpy bunches,
saffron and orange and pale gold,
in little towers,
soft as mash,
sneeze- bringers and seed- bearers,
full of bees and yellow beads
and perfect flowerlets
and orange butterflies.
I don’t suppose much notice comes of it,
except for honey,
and how it heartens the heart with its blank blaze. I don’t suppose anything loves it except,
perhaps,
the rocky voids filled by its dumb dazzle. For myself,
I was just passing by,
when the wind flared
and the blossoms rustled,
and the glittering pandemonium leaned on me. I was just minding my own business
when I found myself on their straw hillsides,
citron and butter-colored,
and was happy,
and why not? Are not the difficult labors of our lives
full of dark hours? And what has consciousness come to anyway, so far,
that is better than these light-filled bodies? All day on their airy backbones
they toss in the wind,
they bend as though it was
natural and godly to bend,
they rise in a stiff sweetness,
in the pure peace of giving one’s gold away.

🐝🐝🐝

Wild and Weedy Wednesday: 16th August, 2023

Each Wednesday I am sharing a weed or wild flower that grows in my garden. And it has been lovely to get feedback from readers about whether those I feature grow in their part of the world too!

Today it is Artemisia vulgaris, commonly known as mugwort or wormwood.

A rather attractive tall silvery weed, growing in uncultivated spots, roadsides or hedgerows. It grows around the edges of our garden, and in the meadow too, as well as right in the middle of the lawn; when it is too dry to mow around the flower beds it continues to grow and annoy me with its persistence! So it is definitely drought tolerant. 😉

This one was taller than me!

As summer progresses it starts to flower. The pollen can cause allergies – thankfully we do not suffer with it. Although it is often wrongly blamed for allergies which are possibly caused by pollen from grasses or even the nasty Ambrosia artemisifolia.

On this photo you can see the purplish flowers starting to open.

The upper side of the leaf is green, but underneath it is silver and shimmers nicely in the breeze.

In Germany it is traditionally (but rarely these days) used as an aromatic herb cooked with fatty meat such as goose or wild boar. (The bitter substances it contains aid digestion). Apparently it has also been used as a flavouring with hops for brewing beer. Neither of these uses appeal to me!

It is, however, primarily considered a medicinal herb. Among other things it has been used for reducing blood pressure and for its anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, antifungal and antioxidant properties. I have also read that it relieves cramp and helps against insomnia. A pretty powerful herb. However, like all herbal medicines, it should be used with caution.

Have you seen this herb growing near or even in your garden? Do let me know if you recognize it. And why not join me with one of your weeds/wild flowers one Wednesday. 😃

Happy gardening, and happy weeding!

P.S. I would like to acknowledge one of the books I refer to while researching these weeds and wild flowers or herbs: ‘The Lost Book of Herbal Remedies’ by Nicole Apelian and Claude Davis. It is an excellent reference book and I have the German version (Das verlorene Buch der Kräuterheilmittel) as well. Here is a link to a detailed review of the book.

The Lost Book of Herbal Remedies

If you are interested in herbal medicines this would be my recommendation.