Spotting flowers growing wild in South East UK
Photographing wildflowers last year I didn’t photograph wildflowers so much in 2017 – this is because after a couple of years of doing it, I realised that a photo of a daisy taken in 2015, for example, looks much like a photo of a daisy taken in 2016. However I now have a new camera,…
Fragrant winter heliotrope is almost over I’ve just been out for a walk in Seaford past this large swathe of wildflower leaves. It is winter heliotrope, Petasites pyrenaicus also known as Petasites fragrans. Identifying winter heliotrope I only recently found out what this was. I had photographed some heliotrope flowers last year in Seaford, but…
Spotting wildflowers on a local walk Tide Mills is the site of a ruined village in a historic coastal area between Seaford and Newhaven, which is popular with walkers. There were plenty of wildflowers to be seen when I visited in August. After parking off the A259, the path skirts a couple of fields as…
Spotting sea lavender on Seaford Head A brisk walk up Seaford Head today, visiting the beach on the way. These chalk cliffs are the start of the famous Seven Sisters. The purple Limonium flowers are in bloom It is August and the sea lavender is flowering in the low grass kept down by rabbits on…
Mike makes elderflower champagne most years What I love about elderflower champagne is the fresh floral taste, and feeling of a midsummer treat! Making elderflower champagne Picking elderflowers The elder tree, Sambucus nigra, is very common in the UK and flowers late May into early June here in the South East. Our elderflower champagne recipe…
I’ve just come back from Litlington Flower Festival Litlington is a small village down the road from where we live in Seaford, Sussex. This year they are running a flower festival over four days in aid of church upkeep and repairs. I may not be religious but I do love flowers and the opportunity for…
I love Walter Crane’s humorous botanical illustrations And a whole batch of his flowers have now been released into the public domain via Flickr. A selection of dizzy daffodils Daffodils don’t really come under the literal Photographing Wildflowers remit, as the only ones to be seen around here are either cultivated, or garden escapees. But…
A wild flower for Mothers Day Primroses grow en masse along the country lanes of Sussex, especially on grassy roadside banks near Battle. Thirty years ago, back when it was OK to pick wildflowers, my husband used to pick a posy for his Mum to celebrate Mothers Day. I am writing this a week before…
I’m quite proud of our compost bins! We have two bins made out of old pallets from work, each about a cubic metre in size. As well as garden waste and vegetable peelings, I also compost any dried flower sweepings from my shop, so it can sometimes be rather pretty with rose petals and dried…
A buttery yellow wildflower We have a community pond at the end of our road, and at this time of year its edges are a sea of yellow with celandine flowers. They seem to love the damp conditions, and the shade provided by a small stand of trees edging the footpath. The buttery yellow blooms,…