Tag Archives: Animals/Creatures

A Week of Flowers 2023, Day Four (and a Vase on Monday)

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I am starting today’s post with a vase, joining Cathy at Rambling in the Garden. And since my garden is currently buried in snow, I am sharing one I put together for this meme in August, with Japanese Anemones and Anaphalis. It is one of my favourites of the year, full of sparkling summer sunshine! 😃

And now to ‘A Week of Flowers’, Day Four. And how time is flying by. So many of you are joining in, and seeing all the wonderful blooms of 2023 is a wonderful reminder of what was and what will be again next year. Anyone can join in, and there are still a few days of this flowery bonanza to go. So why not share a flower to brighten up these wintry days and leave a link to your post in the comments below! 🤗

My flowers all have visitors today. Click any photo for a slideshow and a closer look. 🐝

Gaillardia grandiflora ‘Burgunder’
Gaillardia (Spitzentänzerin’?)
Helenium ‘Sahin’s Early Flowerer’
Monarda fistulosa ‘Gardenview Scarlet’ (with Hummingbird Hawk Moth
Cosmos sulphureus ‘Bright Lights’

I look forward to seeing what others are sharing today, and remember to come back for another blast of colour and sunshine tomorrow! 😝

Bee Banquet, July 2023

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All summer I have been lamenting the lack of butterflies. Almost all the ones we have seen since the spring are Meadow Browns and Marbled Whites. Hopefully I will be able to post about the butterflies soon as surely a few more will show up. Here is a taster; the first skipper I have seen all year…

Yesterday was a great deal cooler (only 24°C!) than recently, so I went out to check on my flowers. A couple more types of butterfly are now visiting with the Buddleia open, but what surprised me most was that almost every flowering plant I looked at was smothered in bees! It was heartwarming to see them all, buzzing away. So many different ones too. I am not at all knowledgeable about them I am afraid, and cannot identify any of them, but I can at least identify the plants they are visiting. 😉

Enjoy the slide show and thanks for stopping by!

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Wild and Weedy Wednesday: 17th May, 2023

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I have chosen a very weedy plant this week; each Wednesday I post about one of the wild flowers and/or weeds I find in my garden, and read up on its common names and uses. So many of them are edible, and this one is no exception: Red Sorrel, also known as Sheep’s Sorrel or Field Sorrel (Rumex acetosella).

It is small, pinkish red and spreads like mad via rhizomes, but has many benefits for wildlife. In fact, while reading about this plant for today’s post I discovered that it is beneficial to the Small Copper – a butterfly that I had photographed only a few days ago! The Copper depends on it for food, and it is also a food source for groundfeeding songbirds such as sparrows, of which we have plenty! So although its big sister, Common Sorrel or Rumex acetosa, also called dock leaf, caused us problems when we moved here (perhaps I’ll do a post on that too), I am happy to see this small and pretty one growing in the tall grass.

Here is the Small Copper, visiting one of my flower beds. 😃

Below you can see it is surrounded by several other wild plants or ‘weeds’, such as veronica, wild pansies and plantains, which may also feature in future posts.

It thrives on poor, sandy, slightly acid soil, in the full sun, so we have perfect conditions for it here. Drought is not a problem for it either. It grows to about 30 cm, and can flower all summer if not mown. It can give larger areas of fields or heathland a red shimmer.

I mentioned that it is edible, but only in small quantities due to the toxic oxalic acid. This makes it taste sour, which explains the German common name (Sauerampfer) meaning ‘sour bitter’! But a few young leaves and flowers can be added to a salad to pep it up. It is one of the seven herbs used for the famous ‘Frankfurt Green Sauce‘. (The other six are Borage, Chives, Anthriscus, Parsley, Salad Burnet and Cress.)

I would love to know what weeds and wild flowers grow in your gardens, so if you would like to join me on a Wednesday, please leave a link below.

Happy gardening!

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