Just of late, I’ve gotten interested in plants again in a big way. When I was at university reading Environmental Science, botany was by far and away my favourite subject. I loved it, both for its own sake and also because I was lucky enough to have a lecturer who was really passionate about their subject and really brought it alive in a way that few could. I love plants, in all their different varieties, families, genii; I find them endlessly fascinating. So much so, that recently I started to research a book on plants, myself. I’m now spending hours immersed in country, county and other books on flora.
But I find myself with a dilemma. Floras are great for telling you about the sheer variety of plant life, but how much of that plant life are you ever likely to see if you don’t live in a rural area. For instance, the plant in the photograph below – It’s Red Valerian, Centranthus ruber, but this photograph was shot about two years ago now and to date I have seen this plant nowhere else.
Poppies, Papaver rhoeas, are a particular favourite of mine (not because of any narcotic associations I hasten to add in the case of Papaver somniferum, but simply because I think that they are far and away one of the most beautiful flowers in the UK flora), but how often are they seen growing wild. Yes, you see them in gardens, but not that often wild where I live.
Your average roadside bank in some places is likely to consist of weeds, such as dandelions, and not much else. And here I don’t mean weeds in a derogatory sense at all, just, maybe that they’re very common, it doesn’t make them any less beautiful as a plant to me.
So in keeping with my old lecturer’s advice to concentrate on what’s actually there and not what the book says should be there or what you think should be there, as of tomorrow I am out and about with the camera, to see actually what is there and to concentrate only on what’s there.
I would have gone today, but I’ve been thwarted by the good old Welsh weather, rain and plenty of it and wind too unfortunately. So it will have to be tomorrow.
Hope you are all well.
Bye for now Radders xx
What a lovely plan. I am fascinated with the wild flora and fauna that we have in this country. A friend of mine joked that I was some sort of walking encyclopaedia because I could take a walk anywhere and say "this is white yarrow, the young leaves are good to eat, if a little bitter" etc. But this fascaintion is a long-lasting love affair with the countryside. There is nothing more splendid than the Great British countryside.
ReplyDeleteThere is a wonderful world out there that so many people miss and hardly any utilise anymore. Sadly it is a case of "you don't know what you've got until it's gone". Have you considered keeping a plant diary? I had one in Northumberland and recorded all of the flora and fauna spotted, week by week on a walk near the house. It visibly changed during the years we lived there and was interesting to see!
Thanks for your really interesting comment Vintage Pretty. Like you I have what could be described as a long-lasting love affair with the British countryside. I spent four years at uni doing an environmental science degree and I absolutely loved all of it. I have surprised myself by looking more closely at the hedgerows and roadside verges near where I live and the plant diversity is quite stunning. I had never before thought of doing a plant diary. What a marvellous idea. The cogs are now chugging away with excitement! Thanks for your post. Love and Hugs Radders x
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