ALL PHOTOS CLICK FULL SCREEN.
This is a quick visual guide to wild flowers and garden escape or planted varieties I've spotted recently on local walks around my district. As much a guide for myself as for others.
Coltsfoot. Photographed in spring. April May.
Tansy. Seen June July.
Great or Hairy Willowherb. June July. Several smaller varieties of this with smaller flowers but all pink.
The more familiar Rose Bay Willowherb along with Ragweed (in yellow at front.)
Ragweed (close up detail.)
Spiraea Salicifolia. If it has a common name I can't find it. Bottlebrush maybe?
What it looks like in a group.
Valerian. It has a faint sweet smell.
Orange and yellow hawkweed. Found in meadows May June July on-wards. Fine in meadows but an increasing menace in garden lawns as it spreads rapidly from garden to garden.
Mountain Bluet. Seen in parks/grasslands June July. Very similar to cornflower.
Cornflower.
Heath Bedstraw. Also called Baby's Breath. Grows in grasslands in May June July. Tiny, less than knee high but clearly visible due to it's abundance in grassy meadows.
Buddleia or Butterfly Bush. June on-wards. Medium to tall plant. Sometimes head height or more.
Honeysuckle. April May on-wards. Sweet smelling.
Hydrangea. Can be pink to blue colour depending on soil it grows in.
Hypericum (hidcote?) May on-wards. Popular in gardens and in retail park borders. Golfball to fist sized flowers. Several different varieties of Hypericum hence the question mark as to variety.
It's smaller cousin nearby. Potentilla. Looks similar but smaller flowers.
Yellow or garden Loosestrife. May June July on-wards. Purple Loosestrife grows around park ponds or water. This yellow stuff grows in grasslands or anywhere, usually in thick bunches like this.
Meadow Vetchling. Grows in grass and on road verges usually. May on-wards.
Vetch. Tufted? May on-wards. Several different varieties purple to yellow but similar tiny double sided leaf formation that's distinctive.
Purple clover. White variety as well. May on-wards. Low growing.
Musk Mallow. Waist high or taller.
Mugwort. Silver variety in this instance. Tall plant over waist high. June July etc.
Selfheal. Prunella Vulgaris. June July in parks/ grasslands. Small. Ankle high usually.
Viper's Bugloss. Knee high. May June July on-wards.
Thistle. Many different variety of thistle from purple to white. All spiky. Insects love them though.
Yarrow. June July on-wards.
Trifolium. Tiny yellow flowers spreading close to ground level. One flower I had not seen before. June July.
Hogweed. Not to be confused with giant hogweed which can grow to ten feet tall or more this is waist high only. May June July. Similar to cow parsley and other umbellifers.
Meadow Cranesbill. Grows in grasslands and light woodlands. June on-wards.
Helenium. Waist high garden and public park plant. July to October. Used in borders.
I've had a lot of fun and pleasure on walks over the decades noticing flowers, birds and insects as well as surrounding scenery so this post is hopefully giving outdoor walkers some extra enjoyment by knowing what the various flowers are at this time of year in the UK. I have a UK wild flower book in the house but weirdly many of these flowers featured here are not in it so that's why I thought it might be useful as an extra visual guide. If I find any more flowers not on this list I may do another post in Autumn.
5 comments:
I remember learning the names of wildflowers for my Brownie badge (not yesterday!) but they didn’t stick so I’m not very good beyond the obvious. We used to have buddleia in the garden till it got too big and I’m glad we took it out because it’s invasive and can do a lot of damage to buildings.
We call it red clover here (although I'd say it's pink)...
What you have as hawkweed is what my family call 'tiger and cubs' - I bought some off a neighbour and like it but it does spread. It's easy to pull out though. It's the only orange I've got in my garden...
Hi Anabel, yes it causes a lot of damage to walls, buildings etc like bamboo and Japanese knotweed but I like it on waste ground and butterflies and insects love it. Just reading about England's very low butterfly count this year due to a rubbish cold wet summer so far.
Hi Carol, I have noticed dozens of garden lawns here totally taken over the last few summers with yellow hawkweed, 60 plants plus per small lawn that did not have any five years ago so they do spread and are hard to get rid of without leaving holes... or chemical treatments. Long roots as well that easily break off, like dandelions, and can regrow in a month or so. Red ones not as bad at spreading. Both types in photo.
Glad I'm not imagining the low butterfly counts - I thought it was just me. I did release a tortoiseshell from my attic today - not sure how long it's been hiding up here. It's good weather tomorrow so hopefully it finds my lavendar and has a good feed!
My hawkweed (I keep wanting to type Hawkwind) are just the orange ones. You're probably right about the roots staying behind and just the rosette of leaves and flower just breaking off - it puts them off for a while though... I just like the orange colour near my lawn.
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