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!

😁

In a Vase on Monday: Ice Flowers

Frozen Hellebore buds

Although it hasn’t been extremely cold so far this winter, it has been cold! Temperatures have been below freezing almost constantly since the first week of January, and we have also had some strong wind making it feel even colder. I haven’t been near any lakes recently, but I imagine they are frozen… which reminded me of this photo on my perpetual calendar. I made this about 25 years ago, long before I had a digital camera. (I originally made it for the year 2000). And although the photo is no longer as vivid as it was, you can still make out figures on a frozen lake, with the sun setting behind them.

Ice skating, curling, ice hockey or just an afternoon stroll across the winter lakes here in Bavaria is an invigorating way to celebrate this brief spell. And it should be celebrated as you can’t count on it happening every year. We have had a few milder years recently, so we were due a cold one. I think the coldest we have ever had it since I came to Germany was -23°C, while this year the coldest has been about -13°C.

Our forecast is mild and stormy this week, so I imagine the ice will melt quickly. But here are a few images of it before it does, taken on a sunny day last week…

And my tiny vase today contains the dried white spiky flowers of Anaphalis, looking quite icy themselves.

The calendar currently stands on a bookshelf, along with another vase of dried flowers that I daredn’t move for fear of them disintegrating! (I think that’s a Scabiosa seedhead leaning into the photo!)

The violet jug is about 6 cm (2.5 inches) tall, so you have an idea of scale.

I wonder how cold your winter has been so far?

I am joining Cathy at Rambling in the Garden for her Monday meme, where we are invited to share a vase of materials found in or around our gardens. I love taking part as often as possible, but today I was not tempted to go out and search for something ‘fresh’! 😉

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! 🙋‍♀️

Wordless Wednesday: Euonymus europaeus

Our native spindle tree, Euonymus europaeus, complete with dewdrops and spider’s webs on a foggy October morning

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!