Small Blue Flowers

/

Checking the weeds, I noticed a patch of Slender Speedwell (Veronica filiformis, #559). These might have been imported courtesy of the garden centre with some raspberry canes I bought last year. Speedwells are fairly similar looking, but this one flowers early, is a deeper blue than the Common Field Speedwell (Veronica persica) and has longer-stemmed flowers. Finally a few weeks later in May yet another species of Speedwell appeared, Thyme-leaved Speedwell (Veronica serpyllifolia, #573), this species has a spike of small, pale blue flowers. so there you go, four species of speedwell in one small lawn, all of which can spread and can become a nuisance. But they are pretty and my lawn is nothing much to worry about.

The Ivy-leafed Speedwell, Field Forget-me-not and Green Alkanet are also all quite invasive. The former, with its tiny flowers, grows in a thick carpet under shrubs. Field Forget-me-Not sprouts wherever it can, but especially between the paving slaps on the path. Its relative, Green Alkanet, grows in thick leafy clumps in the shady damp areas under the trees, giving you a rash on whenever you touch it. All these have a long flowering season, starting right now.

Full Grown Weeds

/

A nice thing about plants is that, if you don’t mind a few weeds (and I don’t) you can just leave them there and let them grow. Identifying grown plants with flowers is much easier and now after a wait I can add three extra species to the list. Not being that expert at plants, I finally registered and used Plantsnap App to help with identification - I have to say it saves a lot of time looking through my field guide!

Canadian Fleabane is one that I found last year, however then it was just a small impoverished thing growing in cracks in the paving - seeing the full grown plant I didn’t realise it was the same species. Field Pennycress is a new find, coming through the paving just feet from my front door,. The paved front yard is covered in plants and definitely a Pathclear-free zone. According to Wikipedia the Pennycress is a potential biofuel crop, so I suppose like the Fleabane if it gets to grow without the constraint of being stuck between paving slabs and trampled on by everyone, then it must grow to a more impressive height than my specimen!

The Common Ragwort and Spear Thistle have been growing up for weeks, me resisting the urge to pull them out, and are now 3-4 feet tall. It’s taken a good while for them to flower, but now they have and they can stay a little longer. Both plants are common around the village, and I’m hoping can attract some different insects into the garden. Some of the soldier beetles I saw walking up Alderton Hill last weekend isn’t too much to ask, is it?