First Orchid of the Year

 

First one

Then another

And then a whole host

The marsh orchids have arrived in the Pentland Hills. I love these plants, but not in an Agatha Christie way.  Most likely these are Heath Spotted Orchids Dactylorhiza maculats although they may be Broad-leaved Marsh-orchid Dactylorhiza majalis or a mixture.  I don't feel the need to rush to  nail the naming. Just now I am enjoying their reappearance  (The land where they grow was severely churned up by heavy machinery.  Just possibly this activity was a conservation measure carried out with approval from the relevant conservation body -  but I was worried they would disappear)

Out Of My Comfrey Zone

 

Sure I know Comfrey.  I grow it on my plot to make comfrey tea.  It is about two foot high and has a mass of green leaves and purple flowers from mid summer.  But that's not the whole story. I came across this bank in full creamy flower on an Edinburgh walk a couple of weeks ago.  Flowers cream not purple. Height no more than 15cm (6" in old money) , not 60cm, and in March! Wild comfrey only flowers from May.

Going to the reference books I come across the idea that there are three Comfreys in Scotland. These are listed in the Poyntzfield Herbs catalogue as:

COMFREY, COMMON Symphytum officinalis P  90cm. High potash plant food and high                        protein stock feed. The root and leaves provide a poultice for sprains and bruises.

COMFREY, RUSSIAN Symphytum x uplandicum P  100cm. A vigorous hybrid with bright purple flowers, a plant for the wild garden. Use for compost and liquid feeds, cutting regularly through the season

COMFREY, TUBEROUS Symphytum tuberosum P  30cm. The native Scots variety, bearing bright, creamy-yellow spring flowers. Similar use and value as Common Comfrey. Source   https://www.poyntzfieldherbs.co.uk/

Now that makes sense of it. It is the Russian Comfrey I have at the allotment.  This is Tuberous Comfrey.

Wildflower Meadow 2021

 Here's how the wildflower meadow looks now.  

It has got a bit of height with teasel, thistle, wild carrot and yarrow all standing out.

Tracking through the season, dandelions looked like they had taken over and then buttercups as you can see here:

But both flowers receded in turn.  Here is the same end on view now.

For comparison here is the wildflower meadow last year.  There were more poppies and corncockles than this year and lots of wild radish. 

And going back another year this is how it all started:

As  it is now the end of August it is time to start clearing the meadow "progressively",  that is bit by bit.  The grass and other plants have become a matted thatch so I remove them to a sacrificial pile at the end.  There is ample opportunity for wildlife to move on as progress is slow - I use a pair of hand shears!

Here is a gallery of some of the current occupants:

Hope you enjoyed a mosey around the wildflower meadow!

Halfway to Paradise

 

Allotments are anomalous.  Neither country nor town but a bit of both.  Some of the most dramatic displays are accidental.

These flowers are probably scorzonera (Scorzonera hispanica) in its second year, although "World flora" thinks rough hawksbeard (Crepis bienis) is more likely.

They are also a halfwayhouse for plants that wouldn't fit into a small town garden but can be given room here. Lysmaachia punctata, Large loosestrife can be a bit of a bully in an ornamental border, but has found a place on the bank of the burn where it can outcompete the geraniums and nettles. Did it get here as a garden escapee or was it given a helping hand?

Now here was a nice surprise in the corner of a neighbour's plot.  I couldn't resist taking a snap to identify it as Jerusalem sage (Phlomis fruticose) when I got home.  You would need a lot of space to fit this into a garden planting plan.  Maybe it was a garden reject or maybe it just appeared and was tolerated. 

There's a lot more going on at allotment sites than the formal rows of vegetables, and the place is a lot richer for it. The pollinators are definitely in favour of a more laissez faire approach.

April Flowers

Chrysosplenium oppositifolium

Regular visitors will have detected a renewed interest in wildflowers/weeds.  This year I am trying to be a bit more systematic so will probably do a monthly update on my wildflower sightings.  I have decided to use  Michael Scott's  Scottish Wild Flowers Mini Guide as a target checklist.  It lists the 300 most likely wildflowers to be encountered in Scotland. (This was prompted by reading Peter Marren's book Chasing The Ghost" where he tries to track down the last 50 specimens from his childhood botany book.) 

My first April flower is Opposite-Leaved Golden Saxifrage  (Chrysosplenium oppositifolium) found on a wet bankside in Hulne Park, Alnwick.  It is small but dramatic.  Currently having its moment it seems the "flower" is perhaps not a flower but brighter coloured leaves.  I am not going to worry about that.

A common characteristic of many summer plants in the carrot family is the white umbrella.  The first sighting of one of these compound umbels has put me in a tizz because now I have to brush up the the subtle distinctions between these confusable relatives.  Is this Cow Parsley, Sweet Cicely, Hogweed or the dreaded Hemlock?

Cow Parsley -Anthriscus sylvestre

I am going for the first option, although my plant identification app mistakenly suggests it could be hemlock.  

Into the woods for the aptly named Wood Sorrel flower is less of a give away than the characteristic triangular leaves that fold back like origami. Its proper name Oxalis acetosella indicates its  sourness. It is said to make an excellent rennet for cheesemaking.

Wood Sorrel - Oxalis acetosella

The hedgerow is the commonplace to find White Deadnettle, Lamium album which has only recently started flowering.

White Deadnettle, Lamium album

This obvious brassica is growing in crack between the pavement and a wall on a busy Edinburgh roundabout. It matches Winter-cress,  Barbarea vulgaris.  Related to, but not actually a wallflower!
 

Winter-cress - Barbarea vulgaris

This Pulmenaria officianalis or Lungwort does not appear in the book or the Scottish Wildflower website, which surprises me.  It appears halfway along the country lane we regularly walk along 

Lungwort - Pulmonaria officianalis

Nearby this butterfly had alighted on this dandelion flower.  They have erupted everywhere lately, (Including the wildflower meadow alongside the school.)

Dandelion - Taraxacum officianale

Dog violet - Viola riviniana

Pink Purslane - Claytonia sibirica 

This plant has a flower very similar to Wood Sorrel which it grows nearby.  It is an import from North America "around 1838" but is widely distributed across Scotland.  

In the shade of our nearby woods a native but thuggish resident is Dog's Mercury.  It is poisonous to dogs. It also threatens along with the ivy to take over whole areas.  The flower is not very dramatic, but out now. 

Dog's  Mercury - Mercurialis perennis

A much more recent naturalised import is "Yellow Archangel"  This escaped from gardens first recorded in the wild in the 1980s and now found in deep shade in our local wood.

Lamiastrum galeobdolon ssp Argentatum

By the end of April I have accounted for about 30 of my 300 target plants.  This could be a long haul.  Although many more plants start blooming in successive months from May through to July. I don't expect to finish  this year but to arrive at a shortlist of targets for next year, 2022.  

Fields of Dreams

 The 2020 wildflower meadow has morphed into the 2121 wildflower meadow by the timely amendment and reinstatement of the sign.  The perimeter rope has also been reinstated.  (Two of the four reinstated metal stakes went missing so we are down to a single strand of garden twine stretched between two stakes.  It suffices as a mere suggestion to the council grass cutters of the agreed status of this corner of the park)

The dandelions are currently having their moment. Once they go to seed the seed issue will arise.  Already I am planning a cull of docks.  These dominated the patch before we set it up and are well represented throughout the neighbouring area (as are buttercups).

Back within the bounds of the school garden the nursery class are taking on the "grow your own loaf" challenge.  Here is the designated 'wheat field'

The canes are there temporarily to demarcate a sowing zone for each child.  A net will be deployed once the ears develope.  Those crows will be thwarted this year .

My final field dream come true is captured below. The 'wee bird' on the side of the path is a skylark.

So often heard, but only seen flying, never on the ground.  This encounter was like a dream.

Spring Arrivals

Mahonia aquifolium - Oregon Grape

Following the appearance of the colstfoot and lesser celandine featured in my earlier post, I have been alert to other new flower arrivals along the canal bank.  You don't have to look too hard to spot this  - one of the first to flower in the hedgerow.   And once I have spotted that I know to expect this too:   

Ribes sanguineum - Flowering Currant 
I have mixed feelings about this because whenever I have tried to grow this in my garden it has succumbed to a fatal shrivelling disease. 

Another plant I have grown in the garden - as an early source of nectar for the bees is willow.  It was only after planting two Kilmarnock willows that I noticed this resident of the canal bank right across the road, doing the job in the wild already!  It is a large sprawling specimen - quite the opposite of the vertically curtailed Kilmarnock. 

Salix caprea - Goat Willow

And while I was on the lookout I spotted this early flowering prunus. I don't think it is a thorny sloe or a wild plum (prunus domestica).  Given the early flowering I think it is a Cherry Plum.  I may revisit that once the leaves have fully emerged.

Prunus cerasifera - Cherry-Plum

It looks like spring is underway - with a little help from our imported species.

The Late Show - October Wildflowers

 When things quieted down at the allotment at the end of September  I was glad that I would have more time to invest in my renewed interest in wildflowers. But guess what: It's not just vegetables that stop growing, the rest of the vegetative world also goes into hibernation once  days shorten, temperatures drop and the wind and rain arrive.  I do have a whole load of snaps taken over the summer that I can review over the winter months but today I am sticking to wildflowers that piqued my interest in October. A floral last hurrah

First prize has to go to Wood Sage.  The rugose leaves form a rosette only to be outshone by a spike of creamy yellow flowers leaving an architectural tower of seedpods. I found plenty of it growing on a hilltop near me.  Quite odd for a "wood" plant.  

Wood Sage  - Teucrium scorodonia

Then I discovered an intriguing white patch with a definite pink tinge in a wayside ditch:  Pink Purslane whose leaves are described as like those of the Ace of Spades.  5 divided and deeply notched petals had me mistaking this for a chickweed at first.

Pink Purslane - Claytonia sibirica

Along the same lane I spotted some dramatic nodding heads.  The leaves are those of Herb Bennet (Wood Avens) but the flowers are entirely different.  Colloquially known as Billy's Buttons this is Water Avens 

Water Avens - Geum rivale

There is a cross between Wood Avens and Water Avens: Geum x intermedium.  The flowers of the cross are more colourfull and more open.  It grows in cracks in the pavement nearby.

My next October flower was definitely a vetch, but which one?  Narrow-leaved Vetch fitted the description.  Flowers in pairs, uniform in colour (concolorous!) Auricles (ears) either side of the main stem where leaf stalks branch off.   

Narrow-leaved Vetch - Vicia sativa ssp nigra

Last on my ramblings is another plant with nodding flowers.  Could this be why it is known as the "mourning widow"?  With such dramatic flowers it is a pity that they are always pointing downwards.

Geranium phacum 

Also known as Dusky Cranes-bill this was on a farm lane - right beside a cottage garden it had, no doubt escaped from.

I hope you have enjoyed sharing some of nature's late show of  colour.  

Wild in the Country

Fly agaric

The season for fungi is here for all to see.  I never pick (let alone eat) any.  Not having the expertise to identify more than one or two I would have no confidence that I wasn't poisoning myself and those near and dear enough to share a meal with.  When it comes to threats to life I like to keep it simple. I do however admire from afar and try to expand my knowledge.  So I am enjoying walks and the fungi are putting on a show just as the flowers are being snuffed out by the cold.  Here's a woodland flower (as you can tell from the flash being required) that I just had to learn about.  

It turns out to be Yellow Pimpernel (Lysmachia nemorum).  I can see the similarity to Scarlet Pimpernel,  except that likes open spaces and is famous for only opening when it is sunny whereas Yellow lives in the shady woods!

Back at the school it turns out that the council has cut down the wildflower meadow.  Not a problem at this time of year but we will need to reinstate the metal stakes and rope demarking the area.  (Someone pinched the bright blue rope that was used for this purpose). 

Wildflower Meadow at it's longest