In a field near me there is something exciting going on. Read the sign below to find out what…
The field was sectioned off and planted with all sorts of wildflowers. Now the results are beginning to show. How many of these plants can you recognise?
No. 1
No. 2 – red flowers
No.3 white flowers
No. 4 yellow flowers
No. 5
No. 6
No. 7
No.8
No. 9
No. 10
No. 11
No.12 blue flowers
No. 13 pink flowers
They might look like weeds to you, but to the insects, birds, butterflies and bees, they are a valuable source of food.
I’ll be returning to this later on.
Meanwhile enjoy your trip through the flower meadows.
Oma
what a great initiative! i love this 🙂
there’s a small garden planted as a natural patch (the Hampstead Green) near where i live too: “Hampstead Green is not generally open for public access. Instead it is cultivated as a spring wild flower meadow and in spring is a blaze of colour with daffodils. This attractive site can be easily viewed from paths which run around most of its perimeter. Hampstead Green is a small haven for wildlife, particularly insects, in this busy built up area.” (source: http://www.camden.gov.uk/ccm/cms-service/stream/asset/?asset_id=296458)
a photo of it: http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/754348
That’a lot of fabulous information Judith. I shall enjoy reading through it. I had no idea so much was being done in London to improve the landscape for our wildlife! Thank you for the links 🙂
you’re welcome! and sorry for the information overload… i got carried away by the topic 😉
Fields and country lanes were once full of these. Now they are objects of rarity, though I still manage to see some in our country lanes; those that don’t fall victim to the giant wheels of tractors and other forms of modern agricultural mechanisation.
That’s right Maureen. The flowers might look insignificant, compared to what we are used to seeing in our gardens, but they all have their place, don’t they. By the way, my folks were Jenners too! We come from Lowestoft.
I am embarrassed to say I hardly recognized any. Isn’t #3 Queen Anne’s Lace? Sheesh!
I’ll be coming back to this post later on D-Jan and naming the flowers. If we go out and buy plants, then we know the names. If we just wander around the countryside on our own then it becomes much harder because the plants don’t have name tags, do they! LOL
The meadow idea has spread over the country, I think. We have land allocated to creating one and I’m thrilled to bits about it. Having given over a section of my garden to self-seeded wild-flowers and wildlife it certainly seems to pay off.
Yes indeed. I’ve seen so many butterflies this summer, have you?
Sadly, butterflies are scarce here. I’ve seen only a few this summer. But I love seeing them.
I know a few of these, or I think I do. I’m never sure if the same things grow in England and America. One looks very much like Queen Anne’s lace – and is one of them a poppy? I wish poppies grew wild here. I love them.
I also love the idea of letting a meadow grow as if it were a wild patch. Those, frankly, are my favorite gardens.
I’ll come back to this post with the names Loren. The meadows in question (8 of them) are about 5 minutes from where I live (by foot). They are plots which have been cut out of a field of just grass – formerly used for playing football etc. These days not so many children play outdoors, do they? so I think it a good idea to turn some of it over to the wildflowers. I expect that it will all return to grass one day, but for now it’s a lot of fun to go and watch to see what comes up. Yes, there are poppies and this week a lot more than when I took the photos. The white flowers look like a kind of Queen Anne’s lace, but the plants are smaller and more squat. Keep thinking …
Then it must be a wild carrot. I love these photos – looking forward to seeing the labels.
Its good to see Wildflowers being sown again .. Too many are now missing from our fields, and the only places they are growing for most part is on the grass verges at the side of the roads, which often get cut back far too early for the seeds to replant themselves, So our Bees, and Butterflies are losing out on so many varieties not to mention how many wild flowers are getting ever more scarce as the decline in numbers…
Good to see this project taking place Oma, thank you for sharing
Sue