2024
Woodrushes
0 Woodrushes Look out for woodrushes. These are grass-like plants with simple flowers. The leaves are like blades of grass with soft white hairs. Clumps arranged like a bouquet, growing often become the dominant vegetation. The scientific name for woodrush is Luzula and there are a number of species, which grow in different […]
7 April 2024
Tutsan
0 Tutsan Look out for tutsan with its last remaining black berry-like capsules, which have transformed from their bright red colour last autumn. This low growing woody species can be up to a metre high with woody stems at the base. It is a semi-evergreen with broad oval hairless leaves with tiny translucent […]
7 April 2024
Herb Robert
0 Herb Robert Look out for herb robert, sometimes easily identified by its red stems. In exposed situations especially where water is scarce, the stems and leaves become bright red. The stems have prominent joints where they branch. Herb robert was valued in folk medicine to stop bleeding and used to cure redwater […]
1 April 2024
Primrose
Primrose Look out for the first primroses, peeping out on south facing banks. Delicate pale yellow petals deep yellow in the centre converge into a long tube. This contains nectar at the base, which is only accessible to long tongued long-tongued species of bumblebes, bee-flies and butterflies. Bee-flies have two wings but […]
15 March 2024
Shamrock
Shamrock Look out for shamrock, our national emblem. Plants with three usually stalkless leaflets are used. Lesser trefoil also known as yellow clover is grown commercially as shamrock. It has wiry, very slightly hairy stems and the middle leaflet is shortly stalked. It resembles black medick, but lesser trefoil does not have […]
15 March 2024
Whitethorn leaves
0 Whitethorn leaves Look out for the first whitethorn leaves (pictured below) unfurling. The leaves are lobed like oak leaves and appear before the white flowers, which is a clear distinguishing difference from blackthorn, where flowers appear before leaves. As whitethorn leaves seem to be unfurling early on hedges planted in recent years, […]
3 March 2024
Blackthorn flowers
0 Blackthorn flowers Look out for the first blackthorn flowers (pictured above), with small snow-white petals striking a stark contrast against the black stems. Blackthorn flowers appear before its leaves, which is a clear distinguishing difference from whitethorn, where the leaves appear first. While regularly appearing after St. Patrick’s Day, blackthorn flowers appearing […]
3 March 2024