From the Ivydene Gardens Box to Crowberry Wild Flower Families Gallery:
Cornel Family

The Bumblebee Pages website is divided into five major areas:

• Bumblebees which deals solely with bumblebees, and was the original part of the site.

• Invertebrates, which deals with all the other invertebrates.

• Homework answers, where you'll find hints and tips to common questions set as biology, ecology, botany, zoology homework, there are also definitions of common terms in biology.

• Window box gardens, this was started when we were exiled to central Paris, and 2 north-facing window boxes were all the garden available, however it was amazing the wildlife those window boxes attracted. You'll find plant lists, hints and tips, etc.

• Torphins, this is the village in north-east Scotland where we are now located. In this part of the site you can find photographs of invertebrates found locally, where to see them and when, also links to pages with more detailed information.

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.

Theme

Plants

Comments

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

Aster spp., Michaelmas daisy

Linaria vulgaris, toadflax

Lonicera spp., honeysuckle

Succisa pratensis, devil's bit scabious

Mentha pulgium, pennyroyal

Butterfly Garden

Bee Garden in Europe or North America

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

• Plants, Plants, Plants - The greater the number and variety of plants, the more wildlife you will attract.

• Don’t Just Plant Anything - British natives attract the greatest variety of wildlife, closely followed by species from temperate regions of Europe, Asia and North America.

• Add Water - A pond of any size will boost the variety of creatures in your garden.

• Dead Matters - Dead and decaying vegetation is a vital resource for many creatures.

• Build a Home - Provide bird and bat boxes etc.

• Feed the Birds And other creatures too.

• Don’t Use Pesticides - All pesticides are designed to kill.

• Don’t Put Wildlife in a Ghetto - Make your entire garden wildlife-friendly and a home for wildlife – it will be worth it!

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

• The Wildlife Garden

• The Rill Garden

• The Orchard

• The Butterfly Garden

• The Bee Garden

• The Wildlife Pond

• Reptile Refuge

• Creepy-crawly Garden

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).

DBIF aims to help researchers access the accumulated knowledge of British plant-herbivore interactions, which is otherwise scattered throughout a vast published literature. The database complements the more specialised internet resources that focus on particular groups (see Links). We hope that the database is of use to professional researchers in the environmental sciences and expert amateurs alike.

DBIF is derived from the Phytophagous Insect Data Bank (see PIDB), which was the brainchild of Dr Lena Ward. Many people have contributed to the version of the database presented here; we would like to thank them all for their varied and skilled support (see Acknowledgements).

To ensure that the information held in the database is used appropriately, please take time to read about what the database contains (see Description of the database ), and what caveats or limitations may apply (see Interpreting foodplant records and Limitations ).

Lastly, DBIF is a work in progress and this website is still under development in some areas. We would be very surprised if you did not find some omissions, or nomenclature that did not need updating. Please alert us (see Contact us) of any necessary changes or of the presence of new sources. They will be incorporated in future updates.

A companion piece in the naturalists' magazine British Wildlife (Smith & Roy, 2008) serves as an introduction to invertebrate herbivory and DBIF.

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."

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
General Height: 60cm.
Sow: April- June

Spring into Summer Flowering

• Cowslip March – May
• Crosswort April - June
• Common Birdsfoot Trefoil May – July
• Kidney Vetch May – July
• Lady’s Bedstraw Late May – August
• Red Clover May – October
• Yellow Rattle May – July
• Meadow Buttercup May – July
• Wild Mignonette May – August

Summer into Autumn Flowering

• Field Scabious June – September
• Hedge Bedstraw June – August
• Viper’s Bugloss June – September
• Meadow Cranesbill June – September
• Greater Knapweed June – August
• Salad Burnet June – September
• Common Knapweed June – September
• Wild Carrot June – September
• Wild Marjoram July – September

From Sarah Ravens Kitchen & Garden:-

Wildflowers - Clay and rich loam soil mix

There are two main things I want from my wildflower meadow – to look beautiful for months not weeks, with flowers coming out and going over in succession AND to grow pollen-rich, insect friendly plants from EARLY in the year to LATE. I want my patch to be a regular and reliable food source for the birds and the bees. 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

General Height: 60cm.

Sow: April- June

Spring into Summer Flowering

• Cowslip March – May
• Common Birdsfoot Trefoil May – July
• Lady’s Bedstraw Late May – August
• Rough Hawksbit May – July
• Red Clover May – October
• Oxeye Daisy May – July
• Yellow Rattle May – July
• Meadow Buttercup May – July

Summer into Autumn Flowering

• Self Heal June – September
• Sorrel June – September
• Tufted Vetch June – September
• Common Knapweed June – September
• Common Toadflax July – October
• Musk Mallow July – October
• Ragged Robin July – September

Flack Family Farm:-

", 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.
AMERICAN MILKING DEVON, breeding stock, semen (shipped directly to you), bulls, bred cows, exclusively grass fed beef.
GRASS-FED BEEF and PORK are raised naturally on pasture and sold in farm shop and through bulk order.
LACTO-FERMENTED VEGETABLES, traditional foods are produced on farm and sold in Vermont natural food stores and in farm shop (no mail order). Workshops on the lacto-fermentation process available.
MEDICINAL HERBS are propagated, harvested and tinctured. For herbal list, which includes Motherwort above.
FARM FRESH RAW MILK available on farm, call to get on schedule. We do not feed grain. We test our cows for several milk quality components, details available on request.
EDUCATION THROUGH HANDS-ON LEARNING, DISCUSSIONS, AND PRACTICE are the core of farm life. Doug Flack and farm family share their knowledge through farm work opportunities, classes and farm tours. Raw Milk Theater
THE FARM IS SEASONAL IN NATURE. Grazing, milking, birthing, planting and harvesting take place from March - November."

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.

See Table 10 in Brown Wildflower Note Map Page. British Floral Sources of Importance to Honey Bees from
Plants and Honey Bees
An Introduction to Their Relationships
by David Aston and Sally Bucknall.
Printed by Northern Bee Books.
First published 2004, Reprinted 2009. ISBN 0-393-30879-0

Sea Wall Biodiversity Handbook by Tim Gardiner, Rob Pilcher and Max Wade
Whilst this handbook has been written primarily to inform those involved in managing vegetated sea walls, it is also intended to have wider appeal to anyone with an interest in sea walls and coastal ecology. Photographs are used to illustrate pertinent points, e.g. to show what good sea wall management may look like, as well as of certain species where this is thought to be helpful. The latter has been deliberately restricted as the handbook is not intended to be seen as a field guide to the habitats or species that can occur on sea walls.

Helping Earth's Sustainable Management with a Plant

"Alternatives to the burning of fossil fuels, nuclear waste, deforestation and nitrate chemical fertilizers need to be developed. Hemp could have a vital role to play in the development of friendly alternatives.

Energy production 
A report published by the FCDA of Europe outlines the Cannabis Biomass Energy Equation (CBEE), outlining a convincing case that hemp plants can be used to produce fuel energy CHEAPER per BtU than fossil fuels and uranium - WITHOUT PRODUCING GREENHOUSE GASES! Hemp plants have the highest known quantities of cellulose for annuals - with at least 4x (some suggest even 50-100x) the biomass potential of its closest rivals (cornstalks, sugarcane, kernaf and trees) (Omni, 1983). Biomass production still produces greenhouse gases, although the idea is that the excess of carbon dioxide will be used up by growing hemp plants - they are effective absorbers and thrive at high levels - Unlike fossil fuel energy which produces energy from plants which died millions of years ago.

On reading the report of the FCDA, Hon. Jonathon Porrit (ex-director of Friends of the Earth, currently on the Board of Forum for the Future) commented  'I DID enjoy reading it - the report should contribute much'. Three years later - authorities are still not taking the potential of this plant seriously. MAFF are currently engaging in supporting research into the biomass potential of poplar trees which they claim has the most scientific support for biomass energy production. H-E-M-P recommend use of the hemp plant if biomass energy production is to have any real impact in reducing carbon dioxide levels.

  IT'S SO PRODUCTIVE! 1 acre of hemp = 1,000 gallons of methanol.

  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!

  As regards depletion of the ozone layer - hemp actually withstands UV radiation. It absorbs UV light, whilst resisting damage to itself and providing protection for everything else.

  Risk-free, pollution-free energy. No acid rain, and a reduction in airborne pollution of up to 80% ... There's further potential for the same in industry. "

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."

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:-
Angelica - Angelica archangelica
Barberry - Berberis vulgaris
Birch - Betula species
Blackthorn - Prunus spinosa
Bramble - Rubus species
Centaury - Centaurium species
Common knapweed - Centaurea nigra
Cowslip - Primula veris
Dandelion - Taraxacum offcinale
Dock - Rumex species
Evening primrose - Oenothera species
Foxglove - Digitalis purpurea
Goldenrod - Solidago canadensis and Solidago virgaurea
Harebell - Campanula rotundifolia
Heather - Calluna vulgaris
Hedge woundwort - Stachys sylvatica
Herb Bennet (wood avens) - Geum urbanum
Herb Robert - Geranium robertianum
Honeysuckle - Lonicera periclymenum
Lady' Bedstraw - Galium verum
Lemon balm - Melissa officinalis
Lime - Tilia species
Maiden pink - Dianthus deltoides

Marjoram - Origanum officinale
Meadow clary - Salvia pratensis
Meadowsweet - Filipendula ulmaria
Mullein - Verbascum species
Nettle - Urtica dioica and Urtica urens
Oak - Quercus robur and Quercus petraea
Ox-eye daisy - Leucanthemum vulgare
Plantain - Plantago species
Poplar (and aspen) - Populus species
Primrose - Primula vulgaris
Purple loosestrife - Lythrum salicaria
Ragged robin - Lychnis flos-cuculi
Red campion - Silene dioica
Red clover - Trifolium pratense
Red valerian - Centranthus ruber
Rock rose - Helianthemum species
Sea kale - Crambe maritima
Sweet rocket - Hesperis matronalis
Toadflax - Linaria species
Tobacco - Nicotiana species
Traveller's joy - Clematis vitalba
Viper's bugloss - Echium vulgare
White campion - Silene alba
Wild pansy - Viola tricolor
Willow - Salix species
Yarrow - Achillea millefolium
and a chapter on Planning the Wildlife Garden.

Alter-Natives Wholesale Nursery, Waipu, NZ is a wholesale nursery open to the public and trade. They grow 240 species of New Zealand Native plants for landscaping and revegetation in several sizes of tube, pot and bag. Their services include Landscape Design and Implementation as well as Revegetation Planting, together with Native Plants recommended for Effluent Fields.

The following is from their Information Sheet on "

Botanical Names Explained

It's a complex world out there and the botanists don't seem to make it any easier! And there is nothing more confusing than listening to a bunch of gardeners talk in streams of apparently meaningless gobbledy-gook. Who do they think they are?

But hold on a minute, don't put it down to garden snobbery. Botanical names give us clues about plants, their relatives, their cultural needs and they are well worth learning.

Botanical, Latin or Scientific Names?

All plants have a unique name and this is often called the scientific name, botanical or the 'Latin name' as many are based on Latin. Many botanical names are derived from Greek, a persons name (the discoverer, sponsor or someone-else altogether!), are descriptive or give the place of origin of the plant. For this reason we prefer to use the term 'botanical name' rather than 'Latin name'.

The system we use today is based on that developed by Linneaus, a Swedish naturalist, developed in the 18th century. Botanical names all have two main parts: a generic or family name and a specific or species name. Thus, the human world we have the Brown family, and we have John, Jane and Mary Brown within that. In the plant world we have the celmisia family, Celmisia, and its member Celmisia semicordata, Celmisia spectabilis, etc.

Plants have names, just like people. The difference between the human naming convention and that of plants is that each pant generic or family name occurs only once. Specific names may occur a number of times (e.g. reptans or alba) but, coupled with the generic name, each plant has a unique name. Think of all the New Zealand plants that are Something haastii or Something chathamica!

Why Not Common Names? Many gardeners and most plant nurseries prefer botanical names as they avoid the confusion that common names can cause. Common names can be very local, some plants don't have a common name, and others have more than one.

More than one plant has the same common name; in the UK an 'Ash' is actually a Fraxinus while in the USA it is really a Sorbus; and an Aconite can be the late summer flowering, deep blue flowered perennial Aconitum or the tiny winter flowering bulb Eranthis hyemalis. In NZ a ‘Mingimingi’ can be either Coprosma propingqua, Cyathodes juniperina or Cyathodes robusta which also comes with either a white fruit or a red fruit.

And then there are the plants that have more than one common name; the climbing pest Clematis vitalba is known as Old Man's Beard and Traveller's Joy; Bergamont and Bee's Balm are both Monarda didyma; and Erythronium as Trout Lilies and Dogs Tooth Violets.

Parts of Botanical Names

The way the name is built up is based on Latin grammar rules. Each plant family name (eg. 'Cordyline') is a noun and has a gender (i.e. is male or female). Species within each family are adjectives ('australis', 'indivisa', etc.).

Botanical names are usually written in italics as in Cordyline indivisa.

Sometimes, perhaps too often for gardeners' liking, the scientists will change a botanical name and thus we get Brachyglottis monroi (syn. Senecio monroi) where the name in brackets is the previous or, occasionally, less well-known name. This is also known as the 'synonym'.

The great value in understanding the botanical name comes from following the family trees through and using the other, descriptive clues in the name. Celmisia spectabilis is a very showy or spectacular celmisia, Coprosma prostrata and Cotoneaster horizontalis are prostrate growers, and Cercis chinensis comes from China and Cercis canadensis from Canada; Geum montanum comes from the mountains; Prunus autumnalis flowers in the autumn.

So while sometimes it does seem as if 'It's all Greek to me!', it really is worth finding out the botanical name.

Using the botanical rather than a common name is not garden snobbery. It is simple good sense, and it saves the confusion common names can cause, unless it is as unpronounceable as Paeonia mlokosewitschii, named for Frederich Mlokosewitch who found it, but known almost universally as 'Molly the Witch'.

The Structure of Plant Families

Plant Orders

A step up from the botanical name we have plant orders. These are larger families of plants.

A plant order is a family of different genera that are sufficiently similar, e.g. Magnoliaceae or Ranunculaceae are plant orders that contain many different genera that share a key characteristic(s).

The plant order is not included in the botanical name, except in scientific situations or in gardening textbooks and plant dictionaries where it gives us clues that clematis, ranunculus and hellebores, all members of Ranunculaceae, have something in common.

Genera

The genera or genus a plant family such as the New Zealand family of pohutukawa and rata trees is Metrosideros, and within this genus we find Metrosideros excelsa, Metrosideros umbellata, Metrosideros robusta, etc

Species

A species is those plants that are the same and produce viable offspring. Plants within a species can vary in small ways, such as differences leaf colouration resulting from environment, climate and soil. And, so, within species you can have subspecies, varieties, cultivars and hybrids.

Variety

Differences in climate, soils, and aspect can cause these differences to be sufficiently distinct that botanists will distinguish between different varieties (often shown as 'var.') within a species. Clianthus puniceus var. maximus differs from the so-called 'typical' form Clianthus puniceus.

Subspecies

When there is no overlap in the geographical distribution of the plants, the variety may be called a subspecies (often shown as 'ssp.', as in Crocus biflorus ssp. crewei). These are still able to produce offspring when two subspecies within the same plant species are brought together.

Cultivars

Sometimes gardeners may select a particular plant because of leaf colour form or flower. This selection is still genetically identical to these within the species and must be propagated vegetatively (cuttings, division etc) to continue the desired attribute, as seed grown progeny may not 'come true', that is, they may not carry the particular attribute sought.

These plants are called cultivars and the cultivar name is shown in inverted commas, e.g. Astelia chathamica 'Silver Spear'.

Hybrids

Where different species within a family or different families produce offspring, the new plants are called hybrids. Hellebores are very promiscuous in this way. Apart from physically separating parent plants or hand pollinating it is all too easy to end up with hybrids rather than the species plants you may covet.

These plants are shown as a 'cross' such as Corokia x virgata 'Bronze King', where virgata is not a species but a hybrid between two of the Hamamelis species. Camellia x williamsii 'Donation' is a hybrid where Camellia williamsii is known to be a parent. Hybrids can also be 'intersectional hybrids', that is, they occur between different genera as in x Cupressocyparis, a cross between Chamaecyparis and Cupressus.

Some Botanical Terms Explained

The descriptive clues in botanical names are rewarding if you translate or understand the terms themselves.

Some names relate to flower colour, others to habit, and others to origin.

Some of the most common terms are listed here, as well as some specially New Zealand botanical terms.

A

• alba white
• albicans becoming white
• albiflorus white flower
• alpina alpine
• angustifolius narrow leaved
• apetala has no petals
• arachnoides spider or spider webs e.g. Sempervivium arachnoideum, the house leek has spider web like appearance
• arboreus or aborescens tree like appearance
• arenaria of sand, referring to plants from sandy places
• argentea or argyraea silver or silvery
• atro dark coloured as in 'atropurpureum'
• attenuata narrows to a point
• aurantica orange
• aurea or aureus gold or golden
• australis southern
• azurea azure or sky blue

B

• banksii named for Sir Joseph Banks, botanist on Captain Cook's voyages
• bellidioides daisy-like appearance, referring to bellis, the daisy
• bicolour two coloured
• bidwillii named for John Bidwill, early New Zealand alpine plant enthusiast
• Brachyglottis short tongued, referring to the short ray florets
• buchananii named for John Buchanan, early New Zealand botanist

C

• caerulea dark blue
• caerulecens bluish, blue tinged
• campanulatus bell shaped
• canadensis of Canada or North-eastern America
• canina of dogs, usually means inferior plant (the Romans were not dog-lovers!)
• cardinalis scarlet, cardinal red
• carnea deep pink
• cataria of cats, eg Nepeta cataria, catmint
• carractae of waterfalls
• chathamicus/chathamica of the Chatham Islands
• chinensis of China
• chlorantha green flowered
• cinerea ash colour, greyish
• coccineum scarlet
• columaris columnar
• colensoi named for William Colenso, early botanist
• confertiflora flowers that are crowded together
• cordata heart shaped
• crassifolius/crassifolia/crassifolium with thick leaves
• cunnihamii named for Allan Cunningham, early botanist

D

• decora beautiful
• delayavi for Abbe Jean Marie Delavay missionary and collector
• dieffenbachii for Dr Ernst Dieffenbach, naturalist
• discolor two different colours
• dissecta deeply cut, usually of a leaf
• domestica cultivated
• davidii for Pere Arman David, missionary plant collector
• Dracanena female dragon

E

• Echinops a hedgehog, spiky
• Echium vipers ( a snake)
• Erodium heron's bill, referring to the shape of the seedpods
• excelsa/excelsum/excelsus tall
• eximia exceptional

F

• fibrosa fibrous
• flava clear yellow
• florida flowering
• -florus of flowers
• foetidus smelling, stinking
• -folius of leaves
• forestii for George Forest, Scottish plant collector
• fragrans/fragrantissima fragrant
• frutcosa shrubby
• fulvida tawny coloured

H

• haastii for Julius von Haast, explorer
• hastata spear shaped
• hookeri for Sir William or Sir Joseph Hooker, directors of Royal Botanic Gardens Kew
• hortensia of gardens
• horizontalis flat, horizontal
• humilis low growing

G

• Geranium crane's bill, referring to the shape of the seedpods
• gracilis graceful
• graminea grass-like

I

• ilicifolia holly-like (from Ilex or Holly)
• incana grey
• indica of India
• insignis notable
• -issima very (as in 'bellissima')
• isophylla equal sized leaves
• ixioides ixia like

J

• japonica of Japan
• jucundum attractive example

K

• kirkii for Thomas Kirk, botanist

L

• laetus/laetum milky
• latifolius/latifolia broad leaved
• lessonii/lessoniana for Pierre Lesson surgeon and botanist
• lineata striped, with lines
• lucida/lucens shining, bright
• lutea yellow
• lutescens becoming yellow
• lyallii for David Lyall, surgeon

M

• macrantha having large flowers
• marcrocarpa having large fruit
• marcophylla having large leaves
• meleagris spotted like a guinea fowl as in Fritillaria meleagris
• melissa honey bee
• microphylla very small leaved
• monroi for Sir David Monro, plant collector
• montana/montanum of the mountains
• moschatum musky scented
• myosotis mouse's ear

N

• nigra black
• novae-zelandiae of New Zealand

O

• officinalis sold as a herb
• orientalis eastern

P

• paniculata having flowers in panicles
• Pelargonium stork's bill, referring to the shape of the seedpods
• petriei for Donald Petrie, plant collector
• praecox early, of flowering
• procumbens prostrate
• procurrens spreading
• prolifera prolific or free flowering
• prostrata prostrate or lying on the ground
• pumila/pumilo dwarf
• purpurea purple (Echinea purpurea)
• purpurascens purplish, tinged purple

R

• Ranunculus frog, because both like marshy, boggy ground
• recta upright
• reflexa bent backwards
• reptans or repens creeping
• richardii for Achille Richard, French botanist
• rigens/rigida rigid or stiff habit
• roseum rose colour
• rotundata rounded
• rotundifolia having round-shaped leaves
• rubra/rubrum red
• rugosa/rugosum wrinkled
• rupestris growing in rocks

S

• salicina/salicifolia willow like
• sanguinea blood red
• scandens climbing
• serotina late flowering or late ripening
• serpens creeping
• spictata in spikes
• stans/stricta erect or upright
• supine supine or prostrate

T

• trigida spotted like a tiger

U

• umbellatus flowers appearing to be in umbels
• ursinum a bear, referring to shaggy appearance

V

• vernus of spring
• viridis/virens green
• viridfolius green leaved
• versicolor multi coloured
• vulgaris common

Z

• Zebrina zebra, referring to the stripes

Botanical Terms - New Zealand Plant Names

New Zealand plants are special. Many are unique to our island country and found nowhere else in the world.
The descriptive clues in botanical names are rewarding if you translate or understand the terms themselves. The names of our plants reflect their discoverers, place of origin and our history.

A

• Aciphylla the Spaniard for the sharp, needle leaves
• Agathis the kauri, from agathis 'ball of thread' for the distinctive cones
• Arthropodium the rengarenga lily, from 'arthro' a joint and 'podion' stalk (has jointed pedicels)
• Astelia stem-less
• australis southern, as in Cordyline australis

B

• banksii named for Sir Joseph Banks, botanist on Captain Cook's voyages
• bidwillii named for John Bidwill, early New Zealand alpine plant enthusiast
• buchananii named for John Buchanan, early New Zealand botanist

C

• Celmisia mountain daisies, after Celmisios in Greek mythology
• chathamicus/chathamica of the Chatham Islands
• Clianthus kaka beak, from 'kleos' glory and 'anthos' flower for the distinctive flowers
• colensoi named for William Colenso, early botanist
• Coprosma smelling of manure
• Cordyline the cabbage tree, meaning a club as the large and fleshy roots resemble
• Corokia from the Maori name 'Korokio'
• cunnihamii named for Allan Cunningham, early botanist

D

• Dicksonia the tree fern, for James Dickson a Scottish nurseryman and naturalist
• dieffenbachii for Dr Ernst Dieffenbach, naturalist
• Dracophyllum the grass trees, from 'draco' dragon and 'phyllum' leaf

G

• Griselinia the broadleaf, for Franseco Griselini, naturalist

H

• haastii for Julius von Haast, explorer
• Hebe for the Greek Goddess of youth 'Hebe'
• Hoheria for the Moari name 'Houhere'
• hookeri for Sir William or Sir Joseph Hooker, directors of Royal Botanic Gardens Kew

K

• kirkii for Thomas Kirk, early botanist

L

• Leptospermum the manuka, 'leptos' or slender and ' sperma' or seed for the narrow seeds
• lessonii/lessoniana for Pierre Lesson, surgeon and botanist
• lyallii for David Lyall, surgeon

M

• Metrosideros the rata and pohutukawa for their very hard wood; 'metra' heartwood and 'sideros' iron hard
• monroi for Sir David Monro, plant collector
• Muehlenbeckia after Muehlenbeck, a French physician and botanist
• Myosotidium the Chatham Island Forget-me-not, for Myosotis the European forget- me-not

N

• Nothofagus native beech, from 'nothos' false and 'fagus' the beech
• novae-zelandiae meaning 'of New Zealand'

O

• Olearia because it resembles an olive tree (Olea)

P
• Pachystegia the Marlborough Rock Daisy, from 'pakys' or thick for the thick leaves
• Phormium New Zealand flax, from 'phormoin' or a mat, a reference to the traditional Maori weaving of flax and flax fibres
• Pittosporum for the sticky seeds, as 'pitta' means pitch or tar and 'sporum' seeds
• Plagianthus 'plagios' oblique and 'anthhos' flower for the asymmetrical flowers
• Podocarpus the totara, from 'podos' foot and 'karpos' fruit for the stalked fruit
• Pseudopanax lancewoods and the five-finger, from 'pseudo' false and 'panax' a related genus

R
• richardii for Achille Richard, French botanist

S
• sinclairii Andrew Sinclair an early plant collector
• solandri Daniel Solander botanist on the Cook voyages
• Sophora the kowhai, from 'sophera' the Arabic name for a tree with pea shaped flowers

T
• traversii William Travers early plant collector, lawyer and politician

W
• williamsii for William Williams, Bishop of Waiapu in the nineteenth century

X

• Xeronema Poor Knights Lily, from 'xeros' dry

"

Alphabetical List of Wild Flowers
The wild flowers are listed in alphabetical order with links to their respective Plant Description Page and their Wild Flower Family Page in the Wild Flower Plant Index

• a-h,
• i-p or
• q-z pages.

Habitat Tables
The wild flowers are also listed in the respective Habitat Table Page for

• Flowers on Acid soil,
• Flowers on Calcareous Soil,
• Flowers on Marine Soil,
• Flowers on Neutral Soil,
• Ferns,
• Grasses,
• Rushes or
• Sedges

These then link you to the respective Plant Description Page. If it is not clear which type of soil the wildflower goes in, I have inserted it into the Neutral Soil Habitat Page, i.e. Watling Street Thistle grows in dry grassland in South England - South England has all the types of soil, so it is only inserted in the Neutral Soil Habitat Page under Dry Grassland.

Family Pages
The wild flowers are also split into their respective Wild Flower Family Pages with a table listing in alphabetical order - of all the Wild Flower Plants for that Family - by the Common Name with the Botanical Name, Flowering Month Period and Habitat is given; together with following colour pictures for each plant - single flower, flowers, foliage and form.

Lady Bird Johson
Wildflower Center in the University of Texas in the USA:-

"Lady Bird Johnson, our former first lady, and actress Helen Hayes founded an organization in 1982 to protect and preserve North America's native plants and natural landscapes. First as the National Wildflower Research Center and later as the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, this special place exists to introduce people to the beauty and diversity of wildflowers and other native plants. Every day, the Wildflower Center brings life to Mrs. Johnson's vision in its public gardens, its woodlands and sweeping meadows as well as in internationally influential research. In 2006, the Center became an Organized Research Unit of the University of Texas at Austin.

Decades ago, Mrs. Johnson recognized that our country was losing its natural landscapes and its natural beauty. As much as 30 percent of the world’s native flora is at risk of extinction. The Wildflower Center was intended to help preserve and restore that beauty and the biological richness of North America. Since then, the Center has become one of the country’s most credible research institutions and effective advocates for native plants.

The Center’s gardens display the native plants of the Central Texas Hill Country, South and West Texas, while the Plant Conservation Program protects the ecological heritage of Texas by conserving its rare and endangered flora. The Native Plant Information Network is a database of more than 7,200 native species available online.

The Land Restoration Program applies knowledge of ecological processes to restoring  damaged landscapes. The Center’s education programs for children and adults teach people about their natural surroundings and how to grow native plants in their own backyards."

Comparison Pages
Marjorie Blamey's Wild Flowers by Colour by Marjorie Blamey (ISBN 0-7136-7237-4. Published by A & C Black Publishers Ltd in 2005) has illustrations of each wild flower of Britain and Northern Europe split into the following 13 colours.

Instead of colour illustrations, this plant gallery has thumbnail pictures of wild flowers of Britain in the same colour split system:-

• White
• Cream
• Yellow
• Orange
• Red
• Pink
• Mauve
• Purple
• Blue
• Green
• Brown
• Multi-Coloured
• Shrub and Small Tree

Below the thumbnail pictures, the text box provides the Wildflower Family name, the Wildflower Common Name (with the colour of the text indicating

• Soil Moisture Blue for Wet,
• Green for Moist and
• Brown for Dry Soil)

and the Height of the Plant (

• Blue for 0-2 feet,
• Green for 2-6 feet and
• Red for over 6 feet high)

as the colour of the Text Border. If you click on the Wildflower Family Name, then that Wildflower Family Page will be shown. Scroll down that page until you find that Wildflower Common Name to see the following colour pictures for that plant - single flower, flowers, foliage and form in the next table row.
If you click on the thumbnail picture in this Gallery or the Common Name in the Wildflower Family Page, then the Wildflower Plant Description Page for that Wildflower will appear alongside with up to 9 photos and description.

This plant gallery has thumbnail pictures of wild flowers fruit or seed with its colour:-

• fruit or seed

This plant gallery has pictures of flower beds with Wild Flowers with description.

Together with the Plants, Companion Planting, Offbeat Glossary and future Wild Flower Habitat sections of this website, these photographs should aid your choice of wild plant for your garden. The individual Page for each wild flower will be in one of the Wild Flower Habitat Galleries with indication of which nursery legally supplies its seed or plant.

I am requesting the donation of the following colour photographs of plants for this section:-

• Flower - to show the shape and colour of the whole flower.
• Foliage - to show the shape of the leaf and its colour. If its colour changes in the year, then a picture of each changed colour.
• Form - to show the natural shape/growth habit of the whole plant. If the plant is deciduous, then one with foliage and one without.
• Fruit - to show the shape and colour of the whole fruit/nut/seed produced after it has flowered.
• Flower Bed - to show the overall effect of a group of plants together, preferably with the names of each of the plants displayed.

Each main photograph will be displayed in a 150 x 150 pixels graphic item. Each thumbnail photograph will be displayed in 50 x 50 pixels graphic item. Freeway allocates 72 pixels per inch. The photographs require to be in :-

• JPEG Format and can be sent via Solid-State-Drive (send to Chris Garnons-Williams at 1 Eastmoor Farm Cottages, Moor Street, Rainham, Kent, ME8 8QE England)

Please give the Latin name of the plant and your contact details (It would be preferable that it is either your website or email address rather than your phone number). These will then appear with the relevant photograph. If you happen to be a Nursery, then this link could provide a means for people to get that plant.

Cultural Needs of Plants
from Chapter 4 in Fern Grower's Manual by Barbara Joe Hoshizaki & Robbin C. Moran. Revised and Expanded Edition. Published in 2001 by Timber Press, Inc. Reprinted 2002, 2006. ISBN-13:978-0-
88192-495-4.

"Understanding Fern Needs
Ferns have the same basic growing requirements as other plants and will thrive when these are met. There is nothing mysterious about the requirements - they are not something known only to people with green thumbs - but the best gardeners are those who understand plant requirements and are careful about satisfying them.
What, then, does a fern need?

All plants need water. Water in the soil prevents roots from drying, and all mineral nutrients taken up by the roots must be dissolved in the soil water. Besides water in the soil, most plants need water in the air. Adequate humidity keeps the plant from drying out. Leaves need water for photosynthesis and to keep from wilting.
All green plants need light to manufacture food (sugars) by photosynthesis. Some plants need more light than others, and some can flourish in sun or shade. Most ferns, however, prefer some amount of shade.
For photosynthesis, plants require carbon dioxide, a gas that is exhaled by animals as waste. Carbon dioxide diffuses into plants through tiny pores, called stomata, that abound on the lower surface of the leaves. In the leaf, carbon dioxide is combined with the hydrogen from water to form carbohydrates, the plant's food. This process takes place only in the presence of light and chlorophyll, a green pigment found in plant cells. To enhance growth, some commercial growers increase the carbon dioxide level in their greenhouses to 600ppm (parts per million), or twice the amount typically found in the air.
Plants need oxygen. The green plants of a plant do not require much oxygen from the air because plants produce more oxygen by photosynthesis than they use. The excess oxygen liberated from the plants is used by all animals, including humans. What do plants do with oxygen? They use it just as we do, to release the energy stored in food. We use energy to move about, to talk, to grow, to think - in fact, for all our life processes. Although plants don't talk or move much, they do grow and metabolize and must carry on all their life processes using oxygen to release the stored energy in their food.
Roots need air all the time. They get it from the air spaces between the soil particles. Overwatering displaces the air between soil particles with water, thereby removing the oxygen needed by the roots. This reduces the root's ability to absorb mineral nutrients and can foster root-rot.
Plants need minerals to grow properly. The minerals are mined from the soil by the plant's root system. If a certain mineral is missing, such as calcium needed for developing cell walls, then the plant will be stunted, discoloured, or deformed.
Some plants tolerate a wide range of temperatures, whereas others are fussy. If the temperature is too high or low, the machinery of the plant will not operate satisfactorily or will cease entirely.

The basic needs of plants are not hard to supply, but growing success depends on attending to these needs with care and exactitude. The remainder of this chapter is devoted to a discussion of these requirements, with the exception of mineral needs, which are discussed in Chapter 5."

But unfortunately the human population in this world do not understand the above needs for plants as shown by:-

Article on Welcome Page about trees falling down within pavements in Funchal, Madeira
followed by these 4000 x 3000 pixel photos, which show precisely how badly people treat these trees in Madeira - including burnt insides of tree trunks.

They set light to the rubbish collected inside the tree trunk, either by a discarded match used to light a cigarette or the stub of that cigarette. This then burns the rubbish inserted by the public and it also burns the rotting and non-rotting heartwood, whilst still allowing the public to wander past the burning or burnt tree. Stubs of cigarettes and discarded lit matches are also dropped on exposed tree roots:-

Pavements of Funchal, Madeira
Damage to Trees - Pages
1, 2, 3, 4, 5,
6, 7, 8, 9, 10,
11, 12, 13
for trees 1-54,
14, 15,
16, 17, 18, 19, 20,
21, 22, 23, 24, 25,
for trees 55-95,
26, 27, 28, 29, 30,
31, 32, 33, 34, 35,
36, 37,
for trees 95-133,
38, 39, 40,
41, 42, 43, 44, 45,
for trees 133-166

The easiest, cheapest and quickest solution for existing pavement areas using pavers or paving slabs is the SuDSFLOW System using paving spacers to create permeable paving. See further details within the row for the London Planetree at the bottom of Botanical Name PH-PL 60 page.

It is worth remembering that especially with roses that the colour of the petals of the flower may change - The following photos are of Rosa 'Lincolnshire Poacher' which I took on the same day in R.V. Roger's Nursery Field:-

Closed Bud

Opening Bud

Juvenile Flower

Older Juvenile Flower

Middle-aged Flower - Flower Colour in Season in its
Rose Description Page is
"Buff Yellow, with a very slight pink tint at the edges in May-October."

Mature Flower

Juvenile Flower and Dying Flower

Form of Rose Bush

There are 720 roses in the Rose Galleries; many of which have the above series of pictures in their respective Rose Description Page.

So one might avoid the disappointment that the 2 elephants had when their trunks were entwined instead of them each carrying their trunk using their own trunk, and your disappointment of buying a rose to discover that the colour you bought it for is only the case when it has its juvenile flowers; if you look at all the photos of the roses in the respective Rose Description Page!!!!

My current ambition at my retired age of 73 in 2022 (having started this website in 2005) is to complete the following:-

Wildflower Flower Shape and Landscape Uses Gallery has an empty framework that I created on 20 February 2022. When all the remainder of the UK wildflowers have been checked:-

• to see if they are also native in the USA and/or Canada - if the UK native plant botanical name matches one in the Flora of America and Canada, then the info from Flora of America and Canada is added to the Botanical Names and Common Names Galleries, but the UK Wildflower Family Pages will not be amended by this or other data from the Botanical Names and Common Names Galleries (completed in April 2022) - and
• to see if they are also native in China - if the UK native plant botanical name matches one like Achillea millefolium 蓍 shi, then the info from Flora of China is added to the Botanical Names and Common Names Galleries - and
• insert snippets from Flower Arrangements from Wild Flowers into the Botanical Names and Common Names Galleries - (completed in June 2022) and
• have been copied from the unamended Wildflower Family pages to the Botanical Names and Common Names Galleries (completed in June 2022).
• Then, I will insert the information from the books associated with the Evergreen Perennial Shape gallery - Flower Shape - to that gallery and to the Wildflower Flower Shape and Landscape Uses Gallery for the evergreen perennials:-
  • Landscaping with Perennials by Emily Brown. 5th printing 1989 by Timber Press. ISBN 0-88192-063-0 for planting sites for perennials, which include most plant types except Annuals and Biennials.
  • Perennials & Ephemerals chapter of Plants for Dry Gardens by Jane Taylor. Published by Frances Lincoln Limited in 1993. ISBN 0-7112-0772-0 for plants that are drought tolerant.
  • Alpines without a Garden by Lawrence D. Hills. Published by Faber and Faber Limited in 1953 for cultivation of alpines in pans, troughs and window-boxes, particularly in towns, for gardeners who have only windowsills or verandas, or flat roof spaces.
  • Colour All The Year in My Garden by C.H. Middleton. Published by Ward, Lock & Co. for culture.
  • Perennials The Gardener's Reference by Susan Carter, Carrie Becker and Bob Lilly. Published by Timber Press in 2007 for plants for Special Gardens. It also gives details of species and cultivars for each genus.

Then, the wildflower entries in the Wildflower Flower Shape and Landscape Uses Gallery will be filled in after each Wildflower has its cultivation details added to the Botanical Names and Common Names Galleries.

Starting the above from 20 February 2022, I think it might take me a few years, but it does mean that as I progress then you will be able to associate more wildflowers with more of all the plant types of the cultivated plants who have similar growing requirements.

Then, more of the natural world with its wildlife could also inhabit your garden.

Aims of the Wild Flower Society
From the respect and awareness of plants in their natural surroundings instilled in children, the Wild Flower Society was born and our 3 aims are:

• to promote a greater knowledge of field botany among the general public and in particular among young people;

• to advance education in matters relating to the conservation of wild flowers and of the countryside;

• to promote the conservation of the British flora.

Changes in recent years
Since Professor Clive Stace brought out his first edition of New Flora of the British Isles it was clear to many botanical associations including The Wild Flower Society that we could now use a more up to date reference than Douglas Kent's revision of Dandy's list of Vascular Plants of the British Isles. The Society chose this text now known simply as "Stace" as our reference flora but retained Kent's list with its more detailed list of the apomictic plants like Hawkweeds, Brambles, Dandelions and so on. The progress made in plant taxonomy using both cladistics and molecular biological techniques, led to major taxonomic changes in both Stace 3 and Stace 4. The diary was extensively revised following Stace 3 and is to be revised again following the publication of Stace 4 in 2019.
The most recent changes have involved Social media. The Wild Flower Society now has Facebook group account and a Twitter account. This means that if you have a personal Facebook account, you can apply to join our otherwise private group. Once accepted this entitles you to post photographs of plants you have found and get them identified, assuming that is possible, by the expert botanists who are members of the group. In summer it is not unusual for an identification to be resolved within 10 minutes of it being posted. The Wild Flower Society at one time had over 1,000 subscribing members and although that membership is lower, near 680 now, those who are associated with the society through social media are in excess of 3,000 and increasing every week (1 January 2022).

Plants included in Schedule 8 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act, 1981

Ivydene Gardens Water Fern to Yew Wild Flower Families Gallery:
Wildflower 17 Flower Colours per Month

Only Wildflowers detailed in the following Wildflower Colour Pages
are compared in all the relevant month(s) of when that Wildflower flowers -
in the Wildflower Flower Colour
of that row