Follow the Yellow Brick Road on Wildflower Wednesday

No f1 hybrids on this walk today just the pretty little woodlanders along Perth lade. Just now its like walking along the yellow brick road in the land of Oz  as there are the most prolific blooms of the Lesser Celandine in the hedgerows and banks along with the first of the Dandelions.

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I am slowly learning about the natives in this area and I notice that every month there is something new to take a photo of and find out about.  Naming them still can be a challenge never mind trying to get a photograph of some of them that isn't blurred! but its great fun to finally find out their correct botanical names and maybe a little folklore to go along with it. 

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I never knew about the  Wildflower Wednesday  meme that Gail hosts over at Clay and Limestone until today and I am just so thrilled to be taking part in it.  Its always on the fourth Wednesday of the month.

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The first plant that grows abundantly around here is the Wood Anemone.  Its other name is the windflower and its little buds nod in the wind.  Down at the lade the flower buds are tinged with blushing pink.

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While in my garden they are pure white.

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Dandelions are now in abundance, and the odd wild muscari neglectum grows along the old railway line and a plant that I think is a Veronica but I’m not entirely sure grows through the grass on the verge next to the road.  

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The White dead nettle (lamium album)  has started to bloom this week and is ever so attractive to the bees as it is just oozing with nectar.

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In tiny little pockets grows the Common Dog Violet (Viola reviniana) its a plant that is easily missed as it grows along the grassy banks and as each shower of rain penetrates the ground the grass just grows longer and longer masking the little flowers.

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One that certainly is not easy to miss just now is the Lesser Celandine.  It grows everywhere along the lade.  Its like a golden carpet of blooms just now.

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And finally the Coltsfoot (Tussilage farfara).

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I love the way it holds its blooms on its thick erect stems.  Its been used since ancient times  to treat coughs and chest infections (Tussil is latin for cough).

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But I need help identifying this.........

Can anyone tell me what this is flowering?.  Its very sappy and the sap just oozes out from the stems.  I’m intrigued by it.  Those markings go right down the stem and its about 10 inches in height with no leaves showing growing in clumps. I noticed too that the stems collapse quite easily.  


Its Field Horse Tail (Equisetum arvense)  also known as Marestail ( not the kind of thing you ever want in your garden - its the most terrible weed as its roots grow 2 yards deep!).  It was growing along the old railway line.  I'm used to seeing it in leaf but this was the first time ever that I saw the flower.

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My woodland collection for this month is over and I hope you enjoyed seeing some of the native British plants.   I wonder will I find something rare some day?

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When you find a native growing in your garden do you leave it alone to flourish or do you call it a weed and promptly remove it?

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The flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come , and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land; Song of Solomon 2:12

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