Spurge

A walk around the lakes of Straw's Bridge this morning, revealed a beautiful expanse of flowers blooming beside one of the lakes.  The majority of these flowers belonged to the Red Dead-nettle (Lamium purpureum) and were in great profusion.

Dead-nettles are a boon to early, nectar-loving insects.  Flowering from March onward, they are among the earliest to bloom and also provide a beautiful splash of colour.
Sprouting up from the middle of this large patch of Dead-nettles, was an equally beautiful plant.  The red-stemmed and yellow-green flowered Sun Spurge plant (Euphorbia helioscopia).

As children, we knew these common garden 'weeds' as milkweed due to the sticky, white sap which oozes out when the plant is picked.