Ivydene Gardens Water Fern to Yew Wild Flower Families Gallery:
Click on Underlined Text in:- Common Name to view that Plant Description Page |
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Willow Family:- Poplars are "deciduous trees, with broad long-stalked alternate leaves, and small flowers in hanging catkins, which appear before the leaves, the reddish male ones and the greenish female ones on separate trees. The fruiting catkins are woolly from the hairs on the minute seeds, littering the ground when they fall in early summer. Most Poplars sucker freely, and the leaves on these suckers, and sometimes also those produced on the tree in summer, differ from the spring leaves." from Collins Pocket Guide to Wild Flowers by David McClintock and R.S.R. Fitter assisted by Francis Rose - ISBN 0 00 219363 9 - Eleventh Impression 1978. Willow Family plant table with its Common Name - Botanical Name. Flowering Months Range. Habitat with link to that Water Fern to Yew Wild Flower Families Gallery:- |
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Common Name |
Botanical Name |
Flowering Months |
Habitat |
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Aspen |
Populus tremula |
A broad-crowned tree of moist clay or sandy soils in mixed broad-leaved woodlands, hedgerows, on heathland, in disused clay- and sand-pits, and occasionally in pine woods. In the north and west, it grows on cliffs, rocky outcrops and riverbanks, often as a shrub. It suckers to form thickets, and readily colonises bare ground. 0-640 m (Atholl, E. Perth). |
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Balsam Poplar |
Populus x gileadensis |
A deciduous tree which is most frequently planted in damp woods and by rivers and ponds, but is increasingly being planted in parks and along roadsides. Only female plants are known in our area but they often become naturalised by suckering. Lowland. |
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Black Italian Poplar |
Populus x canadensis |
April-May |
A broad-crowned tree, usually found in plantations, as an amenity tree in parkland and along roadsides and hedgerows, and in screens and windbreaks. Tthe commonest of several similar Poplars widely planted in parks and hedgerows. |
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Form from Upchurch in Kent in August |
Form from Upchurch in Kent in August |
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Black Poplar |
Populus nigra |
March-April |
A majestic, broad-crowned tree which grows by watercourses, by ponds and in hedgerows, especially on lowland flood plains, and as an amenity tree in urban areas. Lowland. |
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Male Flowers from Darenth in Kent on 5 March |
Male Flower from Darenth on 5 March |
Foliage |
Form |
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Grey Poplar |
Populus canescens |
This broad-crowned tree often grows as a solitary, usually male, specimen or among native trees and shrubs. It is planted in windbreaks and as an amenity tree, especially in damp woods and by streams. Lowland. |
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White Poplar |
A broad-crowned tree which is most frequent as a female in amenity plantings along roadsides and in parks; also in windbreaks and on coastal dunes, but rarely in plantations. It suckers freely and sometimes becomes well-established, forming dense thickets. It is resistant to salt-laden winds. Lowland. |
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Wiilows, Sallows and Osiers are "a genus varying from prostrate creeping undershrubs to tall trees, all deciduous, mostly with alternate leaves; nearly always growing at least within reach of moisture. Some of the shrubby, broad-leaved ones are called Sallows or Pussy Willows; Osiers are shrubs with long pliant branches used for basket-work, often with very long narrow leaves. All have their small flowers in catkins, usually short and erect, the male and female on different plants. Male catkins are generally yellow, often white and silky at first, the female grey-green and less noticeable, going silky in fruit. The 2 kinds of catkin can look so different, especially when there are no leaves and the bushes are far apart, that many people do not realise that they belong to the same species. Many, especially the Pussy Willows, expand their flowers on bare branches well before the leaves, and the male catkins, are then extremely attractive, and knows as 'Palm'. Most species have 2 stamens; to count them, and later to see the fruits on the female plants, the individual flowers must be separated in the catkin. A roundish scale will also be found at the base of each flower. All the Willows hybridise very readily and indeed some hybrids are more frequent than some species. Nearly 50 hybrids are listed on page 744 of the first edition of Clapham, Tutinand Warburg's Flora of the British Isles, for those who wish for more details than be included here." from Collins Pocket Guide to Wild Flowers by David McClintock and R.S.R. Fitter assisted by Francis Rose - ISBN 0 00 219363 9 - Eleventh Impression 1978. |
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Almond Willow |
Salix triandra |
April-May with the leaves |
A shrub or small tree which grows in damp or wet places, by rivers, streams and ponds and in marshes and osier-beds. Lowland. |
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Bay Willow |
A large shrub or small tree which grows in damp or wet ground, mostly in marshes, fens and wet woods, in winter-flooded dune-slacks and by ponds and streams; sometimes in drier sites such as shaded roadsides. Male plants are widely planted as ornamentals within and outside the native range. 0-410 m (Allendale, S. Northumb.). |
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Flower near Lochinver on 20 June |
Flowers near Lochinver on 20 June |
Foliage near Lochinver on 20 June |
Form |
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Common Sallow |
Salix atrocinerea |
March-April, before the leaves |
A shrub or small tree which grows on acidic to base-rich soils in wet places by streams, bogs and marshes, and in hedgerows, woods, moist wood margins and other marginal habitats, colonising waste ground especially in damp places. |
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Crack Willow |
A broad-crowned, often pollarded, tree which grows in hedgerows, marshes, fens, wet woods and hollows, and by ponds, ditches, streams and rivers. It can tolerate a polluted atmosphere and salt-laden winds. |
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Flower |
Flowers |
Foliage |
Form from Somerset in June |
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Creeping Willow |
Salix repens |
A variable shrub growing in a range of habitats. The prostrate var. argentea and var. repens are typically found on fixed dunes and especially dune-slacks, in maritime heaths and heathy grassland and on inland heaths and moorland. The erect var. fusca is found in fens. The species becomes more confined to moist or wet habitats in the south and east of its range. 0-855 m (Atholl, E. Perth). |
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Male Catkin from Dungeness in Kent on 8 May |
Female Catkin from Lizard on 26 May |
Foliage from Betty Hill on 25 June |
Form from Betty Hill in Sutherland on 25 June |
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Female Catkins from Lizard on 26 May |
Female Catkins from Lizard on 26 May |
Foliage |
Form |
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Dark Willow |
A shrub, or less often a small tree, which grows mainly on rocks or on gravelly river-banks and lake shores, less frequently in thickets on marshy ground or by wet woodland margins. In Scotland it sometimes grows in wet dune-slacks and as a dwarf, spreading shrub on wet rock ledges. Generally lowland, but reaching 940 m on Stob Binnein (Mid Perth). |
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Downy Willow |
May-June, with the leaves |
A low shrub of moist or wet, moderately base-enriched sites on rocky mountain slopes and cliffs. This species tolerates a wider range of soil conditions than most montane Salix, but is now largely confined to cliffs. From 210 m (Ochil Hills, W. Perth) to 1000 m (Aonach Beag, Westerness). |
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Eared Sallow |
Salix aurita |
April-May, before the leaves |
A much-branched shrub which grows on acidic soils on heathland and moorland, in scrub, by watercourses and on rocky streamsides and hills. |
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Grey Sallow (Large Gray Willow, Grey Willow) |
Salix cinerea |
March-April, before the leaves |
A shrub or small tree which grows in wet places, including woods, marshes and fens, by streams and bogs, and as a colonist of damp places on waste ground and in disused mineral workings. Generally lowland, with an exceptional record at 845 m on Great Dun Fell (Westmorland). |
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Least Willow |
Salix herbacea |
Mountains (widespread and frequent on bare ground and mountain ledges, from the Brecon Beacons northwards, but nearly at sea-level in North Scotland) |
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Flower |
Flowers from Applecross Pass in Ross on 27 July |
Foliage from Cnoc Androichin on 3 August |
Form from Cnoc Androichin in Sutherland on 3 August |
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Netted Willow (Net-leaved Willow) |
Salix reticulata |
June, after the leaves |
A creeping dwarf shrub which grows on base-rich montane rock ledges of limestone or calcareous schist. From 650 m (Creag Mhor, Mid Perth) to 1125 m (Ben Lawers, Mid Perth), but rarely found at the lower end of this range. |
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Flower in May |
Flowers |
Foliage in May |
Form in May |
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Osier |
March-April, rather before the leaves |
An erect shrub or small tree, frequently coppiced and pollarded, which grows in damp places, by streams and ponds, in marshes, fens, osier-beds and landscaped areas. 0-410 m (E. Allendale, S. Northumb.). |
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Female Flower in April |
Female Flower detail |
Foliage in June |
Fruit in June |
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Plum-leaved Willow |
Salix arbuscula |
May-June, with the leaves |
A low shrub of base-rich substrates on mountains, occurring in moist or wet habitats, mostly in flushes, on gravelly soil near burns and on damp ledges of calcareous rock. From 460 m (Ben Lui, Mid Perth) to 870 m (Carn Gorm in Glen Lyon, Mid Perth) but rarely below 600 m. |
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Purple Willow |
March-April, before the leaves |
A variable shrub or small tree found on wet ground, at wood margins, on damp hillsides, by streams and rivers, on river shingle, in marshes and fens, and sometimes planted as an osier. |
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Pussy Willow |
Salix caprea |
March-April, before the leaves |
A shrub or tree which grows in open woodland and wood margins, scrub and hedgerows, and around rocky lake and streamsides. It colonises waste ground and can tolerate drier and more base-rich soils than S. cinerea. |
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Male Catkin |
Female Catkin |
Female Fruit from Borough Green on 28 May |
Form from Strood in Kent |
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Tea-leaved Willow |
Salix phylicifolia |
A much-branched shrub or small tree which grows by ponds, streams and rivers, and in damp rocky places, preferring base-rich soils and sometimes associated with Carboniferous limestone. In Ireland it is a montane species. From near sea-level to 685 m at Catstycam (Westmorland). |
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White Willow |
Salix alba |
A conspicuous tree which grows in marshes and wet hollows and by ponds, ditches, streams and rivers. |
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Whortle-leaved Willow |
Salix myrsinites |
A low, spreading shrub which grows mainly in moist or wet, base-enriched sites on mountains. It is restricted to ungrazed or lightly grazed areas. From 180 m (Inchnadamph, W. Sutherland) to 915 m (Ben Alder and Aonach Beag, Westerness). |
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Woolly Willow |
Salix lanata |
A low shrub of damp base-rich mountain rock ledges and crags in North-facing corries, often in areas where snow lies late. It is usually on calcareous schist and rarely on limestone. From 620 m to 1035 m (Geal Charn, Westerness). |
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Site design and content copyright ©May 2008. Page structure amended October 2012. Chris Garnons-Williams. |
For educational purposes, so that people following best practice can fully understand why the Aspen Leaves tremble; here are the written facts from The Book of Nature Myths by Florence Holbrooke:- ' "It is very strange," whispered one reed to another, "that the queen bee never guides her swarm to the aspen-tree." "Indeed, it is strange," said the other. "The oak and the willow often have swarms, but I never saw one on the aspen. What can be the reason?" "The queen bee cannot bear the aspen," said the first. "Very likely she has some good reason for despising it. I do not think that an insect as wise as she would despise a tree without any reason. Many wicked things happen that no one knows." The reeds did not think that any one could hear what they said, but both the willow and the aspen heard every word. The aspen was so angry that it trembled from root to tip. "I'll soon see why that proud bee despises me," it said. "she shall guide a swarm to my branches or" --- "Oh, I would not care for what those reeds say," the willow-tree broke in. "They are the greatest chatterers in the world. They are always whispering together, and they always have something unkind to say." The aspen-tree was too angry to be still, and called out to the reeds, "You are only lazy whisperers. I do not care what you say. I despise both you and your queen bee. The honey that those bees make is not good to eat. I would not have it anywhere near me." "Hush, hush," whispered the willow timidly. "The reeds will repeat every word that you say." "I do not care if they do," said the aspen. "I despise both of them and the bees." The reeds did whisper the angry words of the aspen to the queen bee, and she said,"I was going to guide my swarm to the aspen, but now I will drive the tree out of the forest. Come, my bees, come." Then the bees flew by hundreds upon the aspen. They stung every leaf and every twig through and through. The tree was driven from the forest, over the prairie, over the river, over the fields; and still the angry bees flew after it and stung it again and again. When they had come to the rocky places, they left it and flew back to the land of flowers. The aspen never came back. Its bright green leaves had grown white through fear, and from that day to this they have trembled as they did when the bees were stinging them and driving the tree from the forest.' |
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WATER FERN TO YEW FAMILIES WILD FLOWER GALLERY
BED PICTURES |
GBIF makes available data that are shared by hundreds of data publishers from around the world. These data are shared according to the GBIF Data Use Agreement, which includes the provision that users of any data accessed through or retrieved via the GBIF Portal will always give credit to the original data publishers. What is the Global Biodiversity Information Facility? GBIF enables free and open access to biodiversity data online. We’re an international government-initiated and funded initiative focused on making biodiversity data available to all and anyone, for scientific research, conservation and sustainable development. GBIF provides three core services and products:
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WILD FLOWER GALLERY INDEX LINK TO WILDFLOWER PLANT DESCRIPTION PAGE Wildflower Garden Use page from Evergreen Perrennial Shape Gallery. FLOWER COLOUR SEED COLOUR BED PICTURES HABITAT TABLES See Explanation of Structure of this Website with User Guidelines to aid your use of this website. |
WILD FLOWER FAMILY
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WILD FLOWER FAMILY
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WILD FLOWER FAMILY
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WILD FLOWER FAMILY
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Wild About Britain is home to hundreds of thousands of pages about British wildlife, the Environment and the Great Outdoors; from birds, butterflies, fungi and trees to climate change, marine life, astronomy and the weather. We're also a huge online community with 35,000 members and more than 3 million unique visitors a year.
World Atlas of Seagrasses by Edmund P. Green and Frederick T. Short - "a group of about sixty species of underwater marine flowering plants, grow in the shallow marine and estuary environments of all the world's continents except Antarctica. The primary food of animals such as manatees, dugongs, and green sea turtles, and critical habitat for thousands of other animal and plant species, seagrasses are also considered one of the most important shallow-marine ecosystems for humans, since they play an important role in fishery production. Though they are highly valuable ecologically and economically, many seagrass habitats around the world have been completely destroyed or are now in rapid decline. The World Atlas of Seagrasses is the first authoritative and comprehensive global synthesis of the distribution and status of this critical marine habitat. "
Over 300 accounts of the Flora of the British Isles have been published in
Bookreview of A.R. Clapham, T.G. Tutin et E.F. Warburg Flora of the British Isles. Second Edition. Cambridge University Press.
Ferns in Britain and Ireland - A guide to ferns, horsetails, clubmosses
Selected References from KingdomPlantae.net National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Wildflowers, Niering and Olmstead Peterson Field Guides Eastern/Central Medicinal Plants, Steven Foster and James A. Duke Peterson Field Guides Edible Wild Plants, Lee Allen Peterson Stalking the Healthful Herbs, Euell Gibbons Identifying and Harvesting Edible and Medicinal Plants, Steve Brill The Encyclopedia of Edible Plants of North America, Francois Couplan, Ph.D. Tom Brown's Guide to Wild Edible and Medicinal Plants, Tom Brown, Jr. A Modern Herbal, Volume II, Mrs. M. Grieve Weeds, Alexander C Martin
Database of Insects and their Food Plants from the Biological Records Centre:- This database is primarily a collation of published interactions between Great Britain 's invertebrate herbivores (insects and mites) and their host plants. There are also some interactions for the invertebrates closely associated with herbivores, such as predators, parasitoids, cleptoparasites and mutualists. DBIF contains about 47,000 interactions for roughly 9,300 invertebrate taxa (species, sub-species and forms) and 5,700 plant taxa (species, genera and broader groupings).
Helping Earth's Sustainable Management with a Plant IT'S SO PRODUCTIVE! In fact, Henry Ford's first car ran on hemp-methanol! - and at just a fraction of the cost of petroleum alternatives. Alternatives to coal, fuel oil, acetone, ethyl, tar pitch and creosote can be derived - from this one single plant!
Hemp (cannabis sativa) - 1% of Irelands landmass, growing hemp for fuel, would provide all the energy needs for the country each year, keeping the money with the farmers and keeping the rural economies active and this is also an environmentally friendly fuel. Hemp only has 100,000 commercial uses, so is not worth growing.
Hours of the Victorian Flower Clock 1:00 7:00
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Superceeded Wildflower Indices After clicking on the WILD FLOWER Common Name INDEX link to Wildflower Family Page; |
The process below provides a uniform method for
The following Extra Index of Wildflowers is created in the Borage Wildflower Gallery, to which the Wildflowers found in the above list will have that row entry copied to.
Having transferred the Extra Index row entry to the relevant Extra Index row for the same type of plant in a gallery below; then
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Cultural Needs of Plants "Understanding Fern Needs |
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KPR - Gardeners Club Slovakia:- "KPR was officially established in 2000 in Slovakia in Europe; however, we supply seeds and plants from all over the world since 1998. Our main object is focused on joining gardeners around the world from all fields of interests to create a big database of seeds and plants (Seeds and Plants Bank of KPR) from around the world. At present, we have 6 main branches (Slovakia, Czechia, Australia, India, Thailand, South Africa and Tanzania) and over 200 co-operators and seeds collectors all over the world. Nowadays we are able to collect and supply over 10 000 species of plants from all over the world. If you are looking for anything, you are at the right place! Although we do not have every plant in our collection yet, but we are expanding daily, step-by-step, seed-by-seed, plant by plant. We believe that soon we will be able to supply (almost) anything! For sale over 10 000 seeds and plants from all over the world - palms, cycads, exotic and frost tolerant shrubs and trees, succulents, carnivorous, annuals, perennials, ornamental grasses, vegetable, etc." "At present, we can collect seeds and plants on request (as well as parts of plants - for example bulbs, cuttings, meristematic tissues, pollen, etc.) from more than 4000 species of plants from 19 European countries. Now we collect in the following countries: Austria, Bulgaria, Czechia, Germany, Spain, Finland, Great Britain, Croatia, Hungary, Lithuania, Latvia, Montenegro, Macedonia, Poland, Portugal, Serbia, Russia, Slovenia, Slovakia. We prepare to collect in the following countries: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Belarus, Estonia, France, Switzerland, Italy, Kosovo, Norway, Sweden, Ukraine. We are able to collect all species in this area on your request. However, we do not collect protected species and species from the orchids (Orchidaceae). Since 2002, we supply a wide range of European plants annually to both domestic and foreign small gardeners as well as big gardeners' societies, pharmaceutical companies and for scientific research. The Vegetation season in Europe is from March to October. Seeds are usually harvested from August to September, and some species earlier. We provide a guarantee of 2 years for germination seeds. Seeds of some species are available throughout the year, but most of the species are collected on request. If you are searching for anything from Europe, you are at the right place! Contact us and inform yourself about stock availability, prices and terms of supplying. We are able to supply all plant parts as well - seeds, bulbs, cuttings, meristematic issues, pollen etc. We also grow many species in cultivation and supply these as seedlings or young plants for wholesale. If you require seedlings, your order should be placed before April, seeing that the seeds are sown in April."
Colin's virtual Herbarium - "I am Colin Ladyka, and I live in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada. Native plants are my hobby.
Toxicity of Common Comfrey :-
The Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland – Founded in 1836 as the Botanical Society of London and welcomes both professional and amateur botanists. The society focuses on the study of botany in the British Isles. The British Bryological Society – For the study and conservation of mosses and liverworts worldwide. The British Lichen Society – The first society in the world entirely devoted to the study of lichens. The Natural History Society of Northumbria – Everything you might want to know about NHSN including details of their field meetings, lectures, and nature reserve. Common by Nature – James Common regularly writes about his botanical finds across Newcastle and Northumberland on his personal blog. Help Identifying Plants Online BSBI Plant Crib – Sections from BSBI’s ground-breaking publication make the identification of complex plant families much easier. NatureSpot – Perfect for beginners, this online resource hosts species accounts for many plants also found in the North East. Arable Plant Crib – A series of helpful crib sheets for the UK’s arable plants from the Colour in the Margins project (now ceased). Common’s Cribs – A new series of beginner-friendly crib sheets exploring the identification of various plant families and group. |
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Handbook of alien species in Europe
Herbaria@home, a ground-breaking new approach to digitising and documenting the archives of the UK's herbaria. This site provides a web-based method for documenting herbarium sheets. We welcome participation in the project, so please read more about the project and if you would like to help then get involved!
Ukwildflowers has lists of English Common Names with their Latin botanical name.
APHOTOFLORA
Since 1972 I (Leif Stridvall) have almost exclusively been working with Nikon 35 mm system cameras as photographic equipment. They have proved to be very reliable and have never let me down. I started with Nikkormat, later exchanging it for Nikon FA (had matrix metering) and ended up with Nikon 801 (had autofocus) adding Nikon F70 as a reserve camera. In 2001 I began shooting digitally, first with Nikon Coolpix 990 and a couple of years later Minolta Dimage 7Hi, both excellent cameras for close-up photography. However when Nikon last year released its digital system camera D70 at a very affordable price, giving me opportunity to use all my old lenses with their new camera model, I gave up 35 mm photography for good. Since many years I use as macro lens the very sharp Nikon 60/2,8 AF (many old photos are taken with Mikro-Nikkor 3,5/55, also an excellent lens for macro work but only with manual focusing). All my 35 mm photos are taken with slide film, before 1972 Agfacolor, from 1972 till 1991 Kodachrome 25 (very few with Kodachrome 64) and from 1992 onwards with my favourite film, Fuji Velvia, very sharp and contrasty. Slides have been scanned by a HP PhotoSmart S20 Photo Scanner at a fairly moderate resolution of 1200 dpi. Most photos have been slightly edited either in Ulead PhotoImpact or in Adobe Photoshop. Photos with filenames starting with 4 letters are shot with a digital camera (AAAAxxxx or BBBBxxxx indicate Nikon CoolPix 990, MINAxxx Minolta Dimage 7Hi and NIKAxxxx Nikon D70).
The Global Strategy for Plant Conservation grew out of the Convention on Biological Diversity and is being fed into government policy around the world. |
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Biopix is a collection of biological photos, primarily from Scandinavia. Biopix is used online by a wide range of students, teachers, researchers, photographers etc. The photos are used professionally in a large range of publications; the sale helps to cover the expenses.
How to grow: saxifrage - An article written by Charles Lyte on 8 March 2003 in The Telegraph. |
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The New Zealand Electronic Text Centre has under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 New Zealand Licence produced the following information from Chapter IX - Ferns for the Open Garden from The Cultivation of New Zealand Plants by L.Cockayne published by Whitcombe and Tombs Limited, 1923, Auckland:- Class 1.—Ferns requiring no shade in dry districts. Class 2.—Ferns requiring only the minimum amount of shade. Class 3.—Ferns requiring a moderate amount of shade. Class 4.—Ferns requiring a considerable amount of shade.
GrassBase - The Online World Grass Flora:- What is GrassBase?
A Vegetative Key to Grasses by Ellen McDouall from the Bristol Regional Environmental Records Centre. |
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How www.discoverlife.org Works About Everyone can benefit in some way from a partnership with Discover Life. With our powerful integrated web tools, you can:
We are dedicated to improving education about the natural world, and therefore make our tools available for everyone, for free. You keep copyrights of your photographs and other information, you control how much or how little information you provide. We work constantly to improve our technology to make it easier to use."
BackyardGardener.com:- This is no superficial overview. We have everything you need to learn, explore, and improve your gardening. We also provide every product imaginable to assist you in creating your beautiful home garden surroundings. Backyard Gardener has provided gardening information since 1996. We are a one stop informational site to help people understand their gardening needs. Backyard Gardener provides gardening plans and plant lists to enhance your gardening knowledge. We assist in providing the best gardening reference sites on the web with our own 'hands on' gardening information."
Monty Don. The Observer, Sunday 22 April 2001 "Weeds are the unwanted visitors which spoil our garden parties. But before you chuck them out, they can teach us a thing or two. There are other ways to deal with weeds:-
My weeds: Monty's list of garden horrors, most of which are detailed in this website - look by common name or botanical in the Cream and Brown Wild Flower Gallery Page menus above:-
ONLINE ENCYCLOPAEDIA
THE UMBELLIFERAE (CARROT/PARSLEY)
FAMILY OF THE BRITISH ISLES |
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How www.discoverlife.org Works About Everyone can benefit in some way from a partnership with Discover Life. With our powerful integrated web tools, you can:
We are dedicated to improving education about the natural world, and therefore make our tools available for everyone, for free. You keep copyrights of your photographs and other information, you control how much or how little information you provide. We work constantly to improve our technology to make it easier to use."
What is The Threatened Plants Database
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From Sarah Ravens Kitchen & Garden:- Wildflowers - Clay and rich loam soil mix There are two main things I want from my wildflower meadow –
That’s what you’ll get with this beautiful selection of my favourite easy and reliable perennial wild flowers. To cover an area of 3m2
Spring into Summer Flowering
Summer into Autumn Flowering
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From Sarah Ravens Kitchen & Garden:- Wildflowers - Chalk and sand, freely-drained soil mix A wonderfully varied self-sowing wild flower mix for thin, poor, chalky or sandy soils to give your garden or field flowers right through the year and food for the birds and bees. To cover an area of 3m2
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Site design and content copyright ©May 2008. |
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"We have a choice - to use up the world's resources, or to save humanity" from i The Essential Daily Briefing from The Independent on 26 May 2011:- It is coming from the people of Ecuador, led by their President Rafael Correa, and it would begin to deal with 2 converging crises. In the 4 billion years since life on earth began, there have been 5 times when there was a sudden mass extinction of life-forms. The last time was 65 million years ago, when the dinosaurs were killed, probably by a meteor. But now the world's scientists agree that the 6th mass extinction is at hand. Humans have accelerated the rate of species extinction by a factor of at least 100 and the Harvard biologist EO Wilson warns it could reach a factor of 10,000 within the next 20 years.. We are doing this largely by stripping species of their habitat. At the same time, we are dramatically warming the atmosphere. The joint-hottest year ever recorded was 2010, according to Nasa. The best scientific prediction is that we are now on course for a 3 feet rise in global sea levels this century. Goodbye London, Cairo, Bangkok, Venice and Shanghai. So where does Ecuador come in? At the tip of this South American country, there lies 4,000 square miles of rainforest where the Amazon basin, the Andes mountains and the equator come together. It is the most diverse place on earth. When scientists studied a single hectare of it, they found it had more different species of trees that the whole of North America put together. It holds the world records for different species of amphibeans, reptiles and bats. And - more importantly - this rainforest is a crucial part of the planets lungs, inhaling huge amounts of heat-trapping gases and keeping them out of the atmosphere. Yet almost all the pressure from the outside world today is to cut it down. Why? Because underneath that rainforest, there is almost a billion barrels of untapped oil, containing 400 million tons of planet-cooking gases. The oil beneath the rainforest is worth about 7 billion dollars. Ecuador's democratic government says that, if the rest of the world offers just half of what the oil is worth - 3.5 billion dollars - they will keep the rainforest standing and alive and working for us all. In a country where 38% live in poverty and 13% are on the brink of starvation, it's an incredibly generous offer and one that is popular in the rainforest itself. No country with oil has ever done anything like this before. Not a single one has ever considered leaving it in the ground because the consequences of digging it up are too disastrous. They first made this offer in 2006. Chile has offered $100,000. Spain has offered $1.4million. Germany initially offered $50million, then pulled out. Now Mr Carrea is warning they can't wait forever in a country where 13% are close to starving. If they do not have $100million in the pot by the end of this year, he says, they will have no choice but to pursue Plan B - the digging and destruction of the rainforest." What the idiots in power in the world do not realise is that a 25 feet by 25 feet grass lawn will provide enough oxygen for a person per year. A car travelling 60 miles consumes the same volume of oxygen as a mature beech tree produces in a year. Every person in the UK travels by car, bus or public transport and they therefore consume more oxygen per year than the property they own or the country they live in can create. We get our oxygen from outside the United Kingdom. We owe over 900 billion pounds and now we are lending more than 3.5 billion dollars to Greece, Ireland and Portugal. We are spending £800,000 on dropping 1 missile on Libya and last month we were involved in 3 wars costing more that £3.5 billion a year. UNFORTUNATELY THE GOVERNMENT IS NOT INTERESTED IN THE FACT THAT WE WILL NOT BE ABLE TO BREATHE FAIRLY SOON. Since no government will do it, perhaps you as the individual reading this could send £1 a month by standing order to the Ecuador Embassy in your country, so that President Carrea can carry out Plan A rather than Plan B. |
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UKButterflies Larval Foodplants website page lists the larval foodplants used by British butterflies. The name of each foodplant links to a Google search. An indication of whether the foodplant is a primary or secondary food source is also given. Please note that the Butterfly you see for only a short time has grown up on plants as an egg, caterpillar and chrysalis for up to 11 months, before becoming a butterfly. If the plants that they live on during that time are removed, or sprayed with herbicide, then you will not see the butterfly. |
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Plants used by the Butterflies follow the Plants used by the Egg, Caterpillar and Chrysalis as stated in |
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Plant Name |
Butterfly Name |
Egg/ Caterpillar/ Chrysalis/ Butterfly |
Plant Usage |
Plant Usage Months |
Egg, |
1 egg under leaf. |
10 days in May-June |
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Egg, |
Eggs laid in batches encircling the branch of the food plant. |
Hatches after 18-22 days in April. |
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Egg, |
Groups of eggs on upper side of leaf. |
- |
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Egg, |
1 egg at base of plant. |
Late August-April |
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Egg, |
Groups of eggs on upper side of leaf. |
- |
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Egg, |
1 egg laid on underside of leaflets or bracts. |
7 days in June. |
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Egg, |
1 egg laid on underside of leaflets or bracts. |
7 days in June. |
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Egg, |
1 egg laid under the leaf or on top of the flower. |
7 days in August. |
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Egg, |
1 egg on underside of a flower bud on its stalk. |
7 days. |
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Egg, |
1 egg on underside of a flower bud on its stalk. |
7 days. |
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Egg, |
1 egg under leaf. |
10 days in May-June. |
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Egg, |
1 egg on leaf. |
2 weeks |
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Cabbages - Large White eats all cruciferous plants, such as cabbages, mustard, turnips, radishes, cresses, nasturtiums, wild mignonette and dyer's weed |
Egg,
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40-100 eggs on both surfaces of leaf. |
May-June and August-Early September. 4.5-17 days. |
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Egg, |
1 egg on underside of leaf. |
May-June and August. 7 days. |
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Cabbages:- |
Egg, |
1 egg on underside of leaf. |
July or August; hatches in 3 days. |
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Cabbages:- |
Egg, |
1 egg laid in the tight buds and flowers. |
May-June 7 days. |
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Cherry with |
Egg, |
Eggs laid in batches encircling the branch of the food plant. |
Hatches after 18-22 days in April. |
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Egg, |
Groups of eggs on upper side of leaf. |
- |
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Egg, |
1 egg on leaf. |
10 days in May-June. |
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Egg, |
1 egg on leaf. |
6 days in May-June. |
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Egg, |
1 egg under leaf. |
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(Common CowWheat, Field CowWheat) |
Egg, |
Eggs laid in batches on the under side of the leaves. |
Hatches after 16 days in June. |
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Currants |
Egg, |
Groups of eggs on upper side of leaf. |
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Egg, |
Eggs laid in batches on the under side of the leaves. |
Hatches after 20 days in July. |
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Dog Violet with |
Egg, |
1 egg on oak or pine tree trunk |
15 days in July. |
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Dog Violet with |
Egg, |
1 egg on leaf or stem. |
Hatches after 15 days in May-June. |
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Dog Violet with |
Egg, |
1 egg on leaf or stem. |
Hatches after 10 days in May-June. |
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Egg, |
1 egg on underside of a flower bud on its stalk. |
7 days. |
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Egg, |
Eggs laid in batches encircling the branch of the food plant. |
Hatches after 18-22 days in April. |
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False Brome is a grass (Wood Brome, Wood False-brome and Slender False-brome) |
Egg, |
1 egg under leaf. |
... |
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Egg, |
Eggs laid in batches on the under side of the leaves. |
Hatches after 20 days in July. |
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Egg, |
1 egg laid on underside of leaflets or bracts. |
7 days in June. |
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Egg, |
1 egg on leaf or stem. |
Hatches after 10 days in May-June. |
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Egg, |
1 egg on underside of a flower bud on its stalk. |
7 days. |
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Egg, |
1 egg laid under the leaf or on top of the flower. |
7 days in August. |
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Egg, |
1 egg on leaf. 5 or 6 eggs may be deposited by separate females on one leaf. |
14 days in July-August. |
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Egg, |
1 egg on underside of a flower bud on its stalk. |
7 days. |
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Egg, |
1 egg laid in the tight buds and flowers. |
May-June 7 days. |
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Egg, |
Eggs laid in batches on the under side of the leaves. |
Hatches after 20 days in July. |
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Egg, |
Groups of eggs on upper side of leaf. |
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Egg, |
1 egg under leaf. |
1 then |
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Egg, |
1 egg on underside of a flower bud on its stalk. |
7 days. |
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Egg, |
1 egg at base of plant. |
Late August-April. |
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Egg, |
1 egg on leaf. |
10 days in May-June. |
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Egg, |
1 egg on leaf. |
2 weeks |
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Egg, |
1 egg on leaf. |
6 days in May-June. |
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Egg, |
1 egg on underside of leaf. |
May-June and August. 7 days. |
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Egg, |
1 egg on leaf. 5 or 6 eggs may be deposited by separate females on one leaf. |
14 days in July-August. |
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Narrow-leaved Plantain (Ribwort Plantain) |
Egg, |
Eggs laid in batches on the under side of the leaves. |
Hatches after 16 days in June. |
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Narrow-leaved Plantain (Ribwort Plantain) |
Egg, |
Eggs laid in batches on the under side of the leaves. |
Hatches after 16 days in June. |
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Nasturtium from Gardens |
Egg, |
1 egg on underside of leaf. |
May-June and August. 7 days. |
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Egg, |
1 egg on tree trunk |
15 days in July. |
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Mountain pansy, |
Egg, Chrysalis |
1 egg laid under the leaf or on top of the flower. |
7 days in August. 3 weeks in September |
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Egg, |
1 egg on tree trunk. |
15 days in July. |
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Egg, |
Eggs laid in batches on the under side of the leaves. |
Hatches after 20 days in July. |
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Egg, |
Eggs laid in batches encircling the branch of the food plant. |
Hatches after 18-22 days in April. |
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Egg, |
Groups of eggs on upper side of leaf. |
- |
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Egg, |
1 egg under leaf. |
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Egg, |
1 egg laid under the leaf or on top of the flower. |
7 days in August. |
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Egg, |
Eggs laid in batches encircling the branch of the food plant. |
Hatches after 18-22 days in April. |
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Egg, |
Eggs laid in batches on the under side of the leaves. |
Hatches after 16 days in June. |
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Egg, |
1 egg on underside of a flower bud on its stalk. |
7 days. |
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Egg, |
1 egg on underside of a flower bud on its stalk. |
7 days. |
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Egg, |
Groups of eggs on upper side of leaf. |
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Egg, |
1 egg under leaf. |
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Egg, |
1 egg on leaf. |
2 weeks |
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Trefoils 1, 2, 3 |
Egg, |
1 egg on leaf. |
6 days in May-June. |
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Egg, |
Groups of eggs on upper side of leaf. |
- |
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Egg, |
1 egg laid on underside of leaflets or bracts. |
7 days in June. |
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Violets:- |
Egg, |
1 egg on underside of leaf or on stalk. |
July-August for 17 days. |
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Violets:- |
Egg, |
1 egg on stem or stalk near plant base. |
July to hatch in 8 months in March. |
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Egg, |
1 egg on leaf. |
2 weeks. |
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Egg, |
Eggs laid in batches encircling the branch of the food plant. |
Hatches after 18-22 days in April. |
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Egg, |
1 egg on leaf. 5 or 6 eggs may be deposited by separate females on one leaf. |
14 days in July-August. |
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Willow |
Egg, |
Eggs laid in batches encircling the branch of the food plant. |
Hatches after 18-22 days in April. |
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Egg, |
Eggs laid in batches on the under side of the leaves. |
Hatches after 20 days in July. |
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Plants used by the Butterflies |
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Plant Name |
Butterfly Name |
Egg/ Caterpillar/ Chrysalis/ Butterfly |
Plant Usage |
Plant Usage Months |
Asters |
Butterfly |
Eats nectar. |
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Runner and Broad Beans in fields and gardens |
Butterfly |
Eats nectar |
April-June or July-September. |
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Aubretia in gardens |
Butterfly |
Eats nectar |
May-June or August till killed by frost and damp in September-November |
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Butterfly |
Eats sap exuding from trunk. |
April-Mid June and Mid July-Early September for second generation. |
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Butterfly |
Eats nectar. |
20 days. |
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Butterfly |
Eats nectar |
May-June |
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Holly Blue |
Butterfly |
Eats nectar |
April-Mid June and Mid July-Early September for second generation. |
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Butterfly |
Eats nectar. |
July-October. |
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Buddleias |
Butterfly |
Eats nectar. |
July-October. |
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Wood White |
Butterfly |
Eats nectar |
May-June. |
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Cabbage and cabbages in fields |
Butterfly |
Eats nectar |
April-June or July-September. |
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Butterfly |
Eats nectar |
July-October |
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Adonis Blue |
Butterfly |
Eats nectar. |
1 Month during Mid-May to Mid-June or during August-September |
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Pale Clouded Yellow |
Butterfly |
Eats nectar |
May-June or August till killed by frost and damp in September-November |
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Cow-wheat |
Butterfly |
Eats nectar |
June-July |
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Butterfly |
Eats nectar |
May-June |
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Butterfly |
Eats nectar |
April-Mid June and Mid July-Early September for second generation. |
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Butterfly |
Eats nectar. |
3 weeks between May and September |
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Germander Speedwell (Veronica chamaedrys - Birdseye Speedwell) |
Butterfly |
Eats nectar |
June-July |
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Butterfly |
Eats nectar. |
July-October. |
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Butterfly |
Eats nectar |
30 days in May-June. |
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Butterfly |
Eats nectar |
May-September |
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Butterfly |
Eats nectar. |
May-June for 18 days. |
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Butterfly |
Eats nectar. |
July-October |
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Butterfly |
Eats nectar. |
1 Month. |
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Butterfly |
Eats nectar. |
July-October. |
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Painted Lady |
Butterfly |
Eats nectar |
July-October. |
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Marigolds in gardens |
Butterfly |
Eats nectar |
May-June or August till killed by frost and damp in September-November |
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Butterfly |
Eats nectar. |
1 Month during Mid-May to Mid-June or during August-September. |
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Michaelmas Daisies |
Butterfly |
Eats nectar. |
July-October |
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Butterfly |
Eats nectar |
April-June or July-September. |
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Narrow-leaved Plantain (Ribwort Plantain) |
Butterfly |
Eats nectar |
June-July |
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Nasturtiums in gardens |
Butterfly |
Eats nectar |
April-June or July-September |
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Butterfly |
Eats sap exuding from trunk. |
April-Mid June and Mid July-Early September for second generation. |
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Butterfly |
Eats nectar |
June. |
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Butterfly |
Eats nectar |
May-June. |
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Butterfly |
Eats nectar |
July-October. |
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Butterfly |
Eats nectar |
July-May |
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Butterfly |
Eats nectar |
7 weeks in July-August. |
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Comma |
Butterfly |
Eats nectar. |
July-October. |
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Butterfly |
Eats nectar. |
3 weeks between May and September |
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Trefoils 1, 2, 3 |
Butterfly |
Eats nectar. |
1 Month during Mid-May to Mid-June or during August-September |
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Butterfly |
Eats nectar. |
20 days in August. |
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Butterfly |
Eats nectar |
June.
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Butterfly |
Eats nectar |
June-July |
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Apple/Pear/Cherry/Plum Fruit Tree Blossom in Spring |
Butterfly |
Eats Nectar |
April-May |
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Rotten Fruit |
Butterfly |
Drinks juice |
July-September |
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Tree sap and damaged ripe fruit, which are high in sugar |
Butterfly |
Hibernates inside hollow trees or outhouses until March. Eats sap or fruit juice until April. |
10 months in June-April |
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Wild Flowers |
Large Skipper |
Butterfly |
Eats Nectar |
June-August |
Links to the other Butterflies:- Black Hairstreak |
Topic - Wildlife on Plant Photo Gallery. Some UK native butterflies eat material from UK Native Wildflowers and live on them as eggs, caterpillars (Large Skipper eats False Brome grass - Brachypodium sylvaticum - for 11 months from July to May as a Caterpillar before becoming a Chrysalis within 3 weeks in May) chrysalis or butterflies ALL YEAR ROUND. |
Wild Flower Family Page (the families within "The Pocket Guide to Wild Flowers" by David McClintock & R.S.R. Fitter, Published in 1956 They are not in Common Name alphabetical order and neither are the common names of the plants detailed within each family. The information in the above book is back-referenced to the respective page in "Flora of the British Isles" by A.R. Clapham of University of Sheffield, |
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My Comments about the proposed Cobtree Manor Park is where I and my friend used to take her dog for a 2 hour walk every week. See Map Cobtree Manor Park and Cobtree Manor 18 hole Public Golf Course (1golf.eu picture shows the golf course with its fairways to the left of the point 2/3rds across the picture from the left, with 2 grassed areas dotted with trees behind a hedge of trees above that golf course - that area is where people walk their dogs) occupy 50 acres of parkland displaying a diverse and maturing collection of trees and shrubs. I would be surprised if Cobtree Manor Park grassed area occupied more than 6 of those 50 acres. The Park Ranger and Maidstone Borough Council have decided that every dog will be put on a lead at this public place with no method of allowing that dog any exercise unless the owners can run with the dog under their byelaws of 1998. Cobtree Manor Park
My Comments The proposed rerouting of the Bridle Path would also disturb the declining numbers of Great Crested Newts who use that pond. Since there have only been 2 visitors to this site who have emailed me in the last 2 years, the above comments may be a waste of time, since written comments on paper to the Cobtree Officer Brian Latimer or emailed to him at brianlatimer@maidstone.gov.uk must be in by Friday 16th April 2010 and not emailed to me.
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The following is an excerpt from my Comments about the proposed destruction of the wildlife habitats at Cobtree Manor Park in the summer of 2010 from the bottom part of my Mission Statement page "We would be sorry to lose the butterflies on the bluebells, bramble and ivy that would be restricted to only the very small area of proposed Wildlife Meadow by the Woods at the bottom of a hill with water springs on it. The wildlife is now being excluded from all the other areas by the "pruning", so that the nettles, brambles etc which had for instance the butterfly life cycle included; are now being ruthlessly removed to create a garden, not a park, with neat little areas." The life and death of a flailed cornish hedge was repeated at Cobtree Manor Park,
When you look at the life history graphs of each of the 68 butterflies of Britain, you will see that they use plants throughout all 12 months - the information of what plant is used by the egg, caterpillar, chrysalis or butterfly is also given in the above first column.
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THE LIFE AND DEATH OF A FLAILED CORNISH HEDGE - This details that life and death from July 1972 to 2019, with the following result:- End note, June 2008. I hear spring vetch has been officially recorded somewhere in West Cornwall and confirmed as a presence in the county, so perhaps I can be permitted to have seen it pre-1972 in the survey mile. I wonder where they found it? It's gone from hedges where it used to be, along with other scarcities and so-called scarcities that used to flourish in so many hedges unrecorded, before the flail arrived. I have given careful thought to including mention of some of the plants and butterflies. So little seems to be known of the species resident in Cornish hedges pre-flail that I realise some references may invite scepticism. I am a sceptic myself, so sympathise with the reaction; but I have concluded that, with a view to re-establishing vulnerable species, it needs to be known that they can with the right management safely and perpetually thrive in ordinary Cornish hedges. In future this knowledge could solve the increasingly difficult question of sufficient and suitable sites for sustainable wild flower and butterfly conservation - as long as it is a future in which the hedge-flail does not figure.
CHECK-LIST OF TYPES OF CORNISH HEDGE FLORA by Sarah Carter of Cornish Hedges Library:-
Titles of papers available on www.cornishhedges.co.uk:-
THE GUILD OF CORNISH HEDGERS is the non-profit-making organisation founded in 2002 to support the concern among traditional hedgers about poor standards of workmanship in Cornish hedging today. The Guild has raised public awareness of Cornwall's unique heritage of hedges and promoted free access to the Cornish Hedges Library, the only existing source of full and reliable written knowledge on Cornish hedges." |
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Recommended Plants for Wildlife in different situations
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From the Ivydene Gardens Box to Crowberry Wild Flower Families Gallery: |
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The Bumblebee Pages website is divided into five major areas:
FORCED INDOOR BULBS in Window Box Gardens. Once these have flowered don't throw them out. Cut off the heads (unless you want seed) then put them somewhere that the leaves can get the sun. This will feed the bulb for the next year. Once the leaves have died you can plant the bulbs outside and they will flower at the normal (unforced) time next year. The narcissus Tete-a-tete is particularly good, and provides early colour and a delicate fragrance too. Below I have listed groups of plants. I have tried to include at least four plants in each list as you may not be able to find all of them, although, unless you have a very large windowbox, I would recommend that you have just three in each box. |
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Theme |
Plants |
Comments |
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Thyme |
Thymus praecox, wild thyme Thymus pulegioides Thymus leucotrichus Thymus citriodorus |
Thymes make a very fragrant, easy to care for windowbox, and an excellent choice for windy sites. The flower colour will be pinky/purple, and you can eat the leaves if your air is not too polluted. Try to get one variegated thyme to add a little colour when there are no flowers. |
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Herb |
Sage, mint, chives, thyme, rosemary |
Get the plants from the herb section of the supermarket, so you can eat the leaves. Do not include basil as it need greater fertility than the others. Pot the rosemary up separately if it grows too large. |
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Mints |
Mentha longifolia, horse mint Mentha spicata, spear mint Mentha pulgium, pennyroyal Mentha piperita, peppermint Mentha suaveolens, apple mint |
Mints are fairly fast growers, so you could start this box with seed. They are thugs, though, and will very soon be fighting for space. So you will either have to thin and cut back or else you will end up with one species - the strongest. The very best mint tea I ever had was in Marrakesh. A glass full of fresh mint was placed in front of me, and boiling water was poured into it. Then I was given a cube of sugar to hold between my teeth while I sipped the tea. Plant this box and you can have mint tea for months. |
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Heather |
Too many to list See Heather Shrub gallery |
For year-round colour try to plant varieties that flower at different times of year. Heather requires acid soils, so fertilise with an ericaceous fertilser, and plant in ericaceous compost. Cut back after flowering and remove the cuttings. It is best to buy plants as heather is slow growing. |
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Blue |
Ajuga reptans, bugle Endymion non-scriptus, bluebell Myosotis spp., forget-me-not Pentaglottis sempervirens, alkanet |
This will give you flowers from March till July. The bluebells should be bought as bulbs, as seed will take a few years to flower. The others can be started from seed. |
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Yellow |
Anthyllis vulneraria, kidney vetch Geum urbanum, wood avens Lathryus pratensis, meadow vetchling Linaria vulgaris, toadflax Lotus corniculatus, birdsfoot trefoil Primula vulgaris, primrose Ranunculus acris, meadow buttercup Ranunculus ficaria, lesser celandine |
These will give you flowers from May to October, and if you include the primrose, from February. Try to include a vetch as they can climb or trail so occupy the space that other plants can't. All can be grown from seed. |
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White |
Trifolium repens, white clover Bellis perennis, daisy Digitalis purpurea alba, white foxglove Alyssum maritimum Redsea odorata, mignonette |
All can be grown from seed. The clover and daisy will have to be cut back as they will take over. The clover roots add nitrogen to the soil. The mignonette flower doesn't look very special, but the fragrance is wonderful, and the alyssum smells of honey. |
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Pink |
Lychnis flos-cucli, ragged robin Scabiosa columbaria, small scabious Symphytum officinale, comfrey |
The comfrey will try to take over. Its leaves make an excellent fertiliser, and are very good on the compost heap, though windowbox gardeners rarely have one. |
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Fragrant |
Lonicera spp., honeysuckle Alyssum maritimum Redsea odorata, mignonette Lathyrus odoratus, sweet pea |
The sweet pea will need twine or something to climb up, so is suitable if you have sliding windows or window that open inwards. You will be rewarded by a fragrant curtain every time you open your window. |
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Spring bulbs and late wildflowers |
Galanthus nivalis, snowdrop Narcissus pseudonarcissus, narcissius Crocus purpureus, crocus Cyclamen spp. |
The idea of this box is to maximize your space. The bulbs (cyclamen has a corm) will flower and do their stuff early in the year. After flowering cut the heads off as you don't want them making seed, but leave the leaves as they fatten up the bulbs to store energy for next year. The foliage of the wildflowers will hide the bulb leaves to some extent. Then the wildflowers take over and flower till autumn |
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Aster spp., Michaelmas daisy Linaria vulgaris, toadflax Lonicera spp., honeysuckle Succisa pratensis, devil's bit scabious Mentha pulgium, pennyroyal |
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Bee Garden in Europe or North America |
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Wildlife-friendly Show Gardens With around 23 million gardens in the UK, covering 435,000 ha, gardens have great potential as wildlife habitats. And, with a bit of planning and a few tweaks, they can indeed be wonderful places for a whole host of creatures, from birds to bees, butterflies, frogs and toads, as well as many less obvious creatures. Wildlife-friendly gardens can be beautiful too, and a colourful garden full of life can lift the spirits and give immense pleasure, and can also help to connect people, both young and old, with our wonderful wildlife. The eight-point plan for a wildlife-friendly garden
Many of our gardens at Natural Surroundings demonstrate what you can do at home to encourage wildlife in your garden. Follow the links below to explore our show gardens, and when you visit, be sure to pick up a copy of our Wildlife Gardening Trail guide
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From the Ode to the London Plane Tree by Heather Greaves:- "They are also very important to the city of New York (and not just because the leaf is the Parks Department logo). The London plane, usually considered Platanus x acerifolia but also known by other Latin epithets, is not really native, although it very closely resembles the native American sycamore, Platanus occidentalis. Actually, it is probably a cross between this American species and Platanus orientalis, a Eurasian relative. In any case, it has been widely planted as a city tree for decades, which turns out to be a good idea. In its assessment of the New York City urban forest, the US Forest Service Northern Research Station determined that the London plane is the most important city tree we have. They base this conclusion on several factors. For one thing, London planes have a very high leaf area per tree; that is, the London plane gives us a lot more pretty, shady, air-filtering, evaporatively-cooling leaves per single trunk than most other species in the city. In fact, according to the Forest Service, London planes make up just 4% of the city tree population, but represent 14% of the city's total leaf area. (Compare this with the virulently invasive tree of heaven [Ailanthus altissima], which constitutes 9% of the tree population but only about 4% of the total leaf area.) Also, because they tend to become very tall and have large canopies, London planes are our best trees for carbon storage and sequestration. They are holding on to about 185,000 tons of carbon (14% of the total urban tree carbon pool), and each year they sequester another 5,500 or so tons (about 13% of all the carbon sequestered by city trees each year). That makes them both gorgeous and highly beneficial: all in all, good trees to have around." |
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", in the Vermont hills, is a biodynamic farm using organic practices. Natural minerals and planned grazing with American Milking Devon cattle rejuvenate the soil, sequester carbon and yield nutrient dense foods and medicines including milk, grass fed meats, eggs, fermented vegetables (sauerkraut and kimchi / kim-chi), and herbal tinctures. We offer educational opportunities, farm visits, and seminars on nutrition, growing and preparing nutrient dense food, diversified farming and fermentation. |
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Edible Plants Club website "has been created largely from the point of view of a plantsman interested in the many different resources available in the plant world, especially edible and medicinal plants. What started me off on this path was reading Robert Harts book Forest Gardening and then Ken Fearns Plants for a Future and also Richard Mabeys 'Food For Free' along the way. This also led to me to change my career and become a gardener."
'Sort out your soil' - A practical guide to Green Manures, and Frequently Asked Questions from the Receptionist Myrtle of Cotswold Grass Seeds.
Saltmarsh Management Manual from the Environment Agency informs you about:-
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Suppliers of British native-origin seeds and plants:- "Flora locale maintains a list of suppliers who should be able to supply seeds and/or plants of known British (and sometimes known local) native-origin. Although not all their stock will necessarily be of British native-origin, they should be able to provide details of provenance on request. View Flora locale's list of suppliers - follow the "Suppliers of native flora" link. You may also wish to view the Really Wild Flowers site, which contains a wealth of information about creating habitats and cultivating native species." |
British Native Plants List of Edible Plants:- "I thought it would be useful to include native plant lists from different regions of the world. This list is from British Isles (including Ireland and the Channel Islands) and was compiled by Professor Clive Stace of the University of Leicester for the FFF conference on Native Plants held at the Linnean Society of London, June 1997. It can be found here at the postcode plants database." |
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Plants for moths (including larval food plants and adult nectar sources) from Gardens for Wildlife - Practical advice on how to attract wildlife to your garden by Martin Walters as an Aura Garden Guide. Published in 2007 - ISBN 978 1905765041:- |
Marjoram - Origanum officinale |
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"In mid summer, our gardens awash with colourful seas of showy blooms, may appear to be a haven for bees. Over the last few decades there has been a garden centre boom in cheap and cheerful bedding plants or cultivars which produce ever more stunning flowers. The trouble is that many of them are of little or no use to honey-bees or bumblebees. Double blooms and many cultivars contain neither pollen nor nectar. Their sole purpose seems to be for us, for that glance across a splash of colour whilst we sip a cool summer drink. Outside our cities and gardens the situation is not much better; there has been a staggering decline in flower-rich hay meadows, wild spaces and wildflower leys. About 97% of our original flower-rich habitats have been lost in the past 60 years. And with these, fast disappearing from our landscapes, are flowering plants which have evolved over millennia alongside bees and in perfect symbiosis with them. These provide bees with the absolute ideal in terms of pollen, nectar and propolis, with different species flowering in succession throughout the year. Add to this, bees have their fair share of parasites and diseases; and for a final blow, a new generation of insecticides originally developed in the 1990’s to protect fruit trees from aphid attack are, ironically, apparently harming bees. There is science-based evidence coming out of France which proves that many pesticides, in sub-lethal doses, are harmful to bees. Bees urgently need our help! Luckily there is much we can do: Think of bees when you garden. This is so easy because many of bees’ favourite plants are also culinary or medicinal herbs, wildflowers or fruits of every kind. Most of them are unadulterated species plants. These don’t just look good, they do us and the bees good too. We can provide many of these kinds of herbaceous perennials, shrubs and trees. The bees’ favourites are our priority Checklist for Plants for Bees There are a just a few keys points to remember when choosing plants for bees: • Approved by bees - Anecdotal evidence has been collected from all over the world, from many people, beekeepers, entomologists, wildlife enthusiasts and gardeners who have observed bees' foraging preferences. We are also planning scientific field studies for 2012 to confirm which garden plants do prove the most popular with our bees. • 100% safe for bees - Plants that are grown without the use of pesticides (especially neonicotinoids such as 'Clothianidin', 'Imidacloprid', 'Thiacloprid' or 'Acetamiprid') or other chemicals that may harm bees. Organic (or Biodynamic) plants are 100% safe for bees. • Species plants - You can't go wrong with natural, 'species' plants that have evolved with bees over millennia. Many artificially bred cultivers or clones, are sterile and often do not produce nectar (for example, the nectaries having been bred into extra petals). Though most fruit cultivars are fine. • Produces plenty of nectar or pollen - Some of the bees' favourite plants produce greater quantities of pollen or nectar than others - that is the kind of information we will try to include in our plant descriptions - especially after the scientific studies being carried out in our bee sancturay have concluded in 2012. • Flowers throughout the times of greatest need - There are certain times when pollen or nectar are needed: Early spring is a time of great need for pollen (which triggers egg-laying by the queen); All season from early spring to late Autumn nectar is needed, though there is a 'crisis period' from the end of June until September (in the South of the UK) when adult bees' numbers are at a peak and their need for nectar is vital. This summer period is one we should concentrate on providing copious amounts of nectar in our gardens." |
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Ivydene Gardens Water Fern to Yew Wild Flower Families Gallery: |
Only Wildflowers detailed in the following Wildflower Colour Pages |
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