Wednesday, 6 May 2009

Floral exhuberance

Taking a walk along the Nutbrook Trail this morning, Malcolm and I were treated to a floral extravaganza. From the smallest Grey Field Speedwell (Veronica polita)....

... and of equal size, tiny and blue Forget-me-not (Myosotis secunda).

Among the sprouting nettles are to be found the pinkish-purple flowers of Herb Robert (Geranium robertianum).

At a lower level among the grasses, were the well-known garden weeds (weeds are after all, only flowers in the wrong place), Ground Ivy (Glechoma hedracea).

Perhaps the showiest of all was a flower with which most will not be at all familiar - at least not close up. Bright cream-coloured flowers flushed with pink and yellow, held in large, upright panicles. More often referred to as candelabra, these flowers are usually to be seen only from a distance on high tree branches....any Ideas what it is?

Actually very well known to us all, it is the Horse Chestnut (Aesculus hippocastanum).

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