Author Topic: Wild flowers  (Read 116199 times)

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Offline Blodyn

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Re: Wild flowers
« Reply #60 on: July 04, 2011, 10:35:53 am »
Here's a musk thistle on the Great Orme, showing its typical "nodding" head.  It's quite a big plant with very spiny leaves. 

Offline Bellringer

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Re: Wild flowers
« Reply #61 on: July 04, 2011, 11:44:51 am »
Nice pictures Blodyn.


Offline stephenprudence

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Re: Wild flowers
« Reply #62 on: July 04, 2011, 02:19:52 pm »
Nice photos in here, I have one, although it's not strictly a wildflower, but they come up everywhere in Llandudno and probably Colwyn Bay. Never seen any in Conwy though..



This is interesting, it appears this snapdragon has taken on it's own evolutionary form for Llandudno with much thinner leaves than usual.. suggest it has adapted to the climate through the seeding process!

Offline DaveR

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Re: Wild flowers
« Reply #63 on: July 04, 2011, 02:33:03 pm »
Perhaps its something to do with the limited nutrition available in the stone walls etc that it grows in and it saves all its energy for flowering? Amazing how it can grow at all. Buddleias always amaze me, in how such a large plant can grow in places where you would think there was very little water or nutrition.

Offline stephenprudence

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Re: Wild flowers
« Reply #64 on: July 04, 2011, 02:41:46 pm »
That's a very good point Dave! Snapdragons seems to well adapted to wall growth (like the Wallflower).

It is impressive re: Buddleia, I've seen entire 'trees' growing from a small crack in a wall.. it must have something to do with where they come from in China.

Have you seen the Buddleia globosa? I noticed this self seeded version of the Buddleia for the first time this Spring! But it won't grow out of walls.

Offline Blodyn

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Re: Wild flowers
« Reply #65 on: July 04, 2011, 11:11:31 pm »
Stan, thanks for your comments.

Stephen, welcome to the Forum.  Hope to hear more from you in the future and good luck with your proposed move to Llandudno.  There are plenty of lovely flowers here, both in the wild and in the gardens. 

Offline Trojan

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Re: Wild flowers
« Reply #66 on: July 05, 2011, 09:48:42 am »
It is impressive re: Buddleia, I've seen entire 'trees' growing from a small crack in a wall.. it must have something to do with where they come from in China.

Maybe they flourished in the cracks of the Great Wall of China?

Offline Blodyn

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Re: Wild flowers
« Reply #67 on: July 05, 2011, 10:32:20 am »
It is amazing where plants will grow (particularly considering how hard it can sometimes be to make them grow in a garden!). 

Here are some trees in St. Tudclud's churchyard in Penmachno.  The large beech tree looks very solid and healthy but growing in a bit of a hollow on one side there is an equally healthy looking holly sapling and some willowherb. 

Nothing at all to do with this thread but an interesting snippit of information: St. Tudclud was one of St. Tudno's brothers. 

Offline Nemesis

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Re: Wild flowers
« Reply #68 on: July 05, 2011, 09:20:44 pm »
I was rooting around in a wild, overgrown bit of our back garden and came across this strange parasitic leafless plant. I think it is Broomrape. Do you agree Blodyn?
Mad, Bad and Dangerous to know.

Offline Blodyn

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Re: Wild flowers
« Reply #69 on: July 05, 2011, 11:02:29 pm »
Yes, definitely.  You are lucky, Nemesis, to have such an unusual plant in your garden. 

Different broomrape species parasitise different plants, so if you can work out what it's growing on it will be a good clue to its species.  The broomrape should have underground tubers attached to the roots of its host plant.  Some of the broomrapes are quite rare, so if you need to disturb it you might want to wait till it's had a chance to set seed.  As it seems to be in quite a shady position, I wonder if it's an ivy broomrape.  Is there any ivy growing in that area too? 

Offline Nemesis

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Re: Wild flowers
« Reply #70 on: July 06, 2011, 10:21:18 am »
Yes there is, there are 6 stems of Broomrape, all near Ivy, some are emerging from under a Pyrocantha trunk, but I am not going to risk disturbing it till it has seeded. I will try and harvest some seeds if poss.
The plant was hidden behind some undergrowth in an area which we had abandoned clearing as there was a blackbird nesting there. This happens most years, so this particular area never gets properly cleared. What with Hedge Sparrows in the Barge Boards, Wrens behind an old fuchsia bush and a family of Blackbirds the garden is hopping with birds !
Thanks for the help.
Mad, Bad and Dangerous to know.

Offline Blodyn

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Re: Wild flowers
« Reply #71 on: July 13, 2011, 01:09:52 pm »
You must have a lovely garden, Nemesis.  Good luck with the broomrape, I'll be interested to hear how you get on.

Here are some more plants flowering on the Great Orme at the moment. 

The spiked speedwell seems to be having a very good year.  On a regular walk which I do there are more than twice as many flower spikes as I've seen during any of the past 10 summers.  The spiked speedwell is classified as "Nationally Scarce", so we are lucky to have so many here. 

The harebells look very delicate but withstand very strong winds without apparent damage.  They seem to be attractive to a range of flies of various sizes. 

Lady's bedstraw is providing a lot of colour, with large patches of bright yellow very obvious amongst the grasses. 

Offline Nemesis

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Re: Wild flowers
« Reply #72 on: July 13, 2011, 02:38:34 pm »
More wonderful pics Blodyn, 'fraid the Broomrape is fading fast-- not a long flowering specimen I suspect. I ended up with 12 spikes.
The garden is somewhat wild in parts-- it overgrows my abilities to clear such things as Brambles, but the wildlife like it !
Mad, Bad and Dangerous to know.

Offline Nemesis

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Re: Wild flowers
« Reply #73 on: July 14, 2011, 12:58:27 pm »
Just a single plant on the Orme this morning.
Viper's Bugloss?
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Offline Blodyn

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Re: Wild flowers
« Reply #74 on: July 14, 2011, 01:55:23 pm »
Yes, certainly viper's bugloss.  How nice to see it on the Orme, the bumblebees will love it.