Monday 18 July 2011

Wild flowers




This afternoon, for our lunch time walk, Tess and I set off to the bottom of the lane in a search for a patch of chicory which has grown there for a number of years. It appears about this time of the year and is the most vivid blue imagineable. When we got there there was no sign of it at all. Oh the transient nature of wild flowers.

However, there was a lovely patch of giant bellflower, which I have not seen on the lane before - so that was some consolation. And on the way back I notcied just how much purple vetch there was this year - far more than other years; it was clambering up everything.

One of our most common late wild flowers is the wild cranesbill (so called after the shape of its seed heads) or geranium. This is a mauvy-blue and rambles about in the bedge bottom everywhere in the Dales.

The barley fields - of which there are a few in this mainly grass-land area - are ripe and wait for a few fine days so that they can be harvested. The grass has grown and it will soon be time for second crop- silage, so a fine weather spell is needed for that. But most of all - there is still haymaking to be done and there sunshine is vital - so I do hope it soon stops pouring with rain and gives us a few days of unbroken sunshine. We have this will it/won't it every year and I must say there has never been a year yet when we haven't finally got all the hay in, so the farmer (who has been in this job all his life) takes it all in his stride and doesn't get all worked up about it like I do.

12 comments:

Bonnie Zieman, M.Ed. said...

I love all blue blossoms, be they classified as weeds, wild, or 'flowers'. Chicory is a favorite for photographing.

Grizz………… said...

Looks like you found several blue/purple flowers to substitute…though I hope you also locate a patch of chicory or two somewhere nearby. Chicory and summer are simply inseparable.

Dartford Warbler said...

The blue of your wild cranesbills is a much loved memory of exploring the Dales. Beautiful, especially against the grey of a dry stone wall in a country lane.

Fingers crossed for a dry spell across the country so that the hay and silage can be cut and stored safely.We have grey skies and intermittent drizzle here in the south.

Irene said...

I do love wildflowers and am on the lookout for them always. I think they make the fields and roadsides look so much prettier. Thanks for showing the photos of yours.

Heather said...

Such beautiful wild flowers Pat. I have chicory growing in the garden and you are right about that glorious blue. I also love vetches of all kinds. There is a yellow one in our front garden, which for many years I tried to get rid of. It was so tenacious that I gave up and it now climbs up through the shrubs and flowers every summer. I have goat's rue in the back garden which has very pretty pale lilac vetchlike flowers. I hope we all get some summer weather soon and am very grateful that our income doesn't depend on it! Having said that, if the weather affects crops, we all lose out in the long run.

angryparsnip said...

What a lovely and wonderful walk you had. Such beautiful wild flowers.

cheers, parsnip

Rarelesserspotted said...

When I do my own meditations, or guide others in meditations, I often imagine and visualise country meadows with wild flowers, so relaxing and a lovely picture of UK life you can almost hear the buzz of the insects!
Thanks for sharing the pictures.
XX

Eryl said...

I'll have to google chicory, haven't a scooby-do what it looks like, though I suspect I've seen it a thousand times. I've noticed an awful lot of vetch around too – ours is a rather luminous magenta – and tons of big daisies of which I am very fond. Also, something I really love but don't know the name of but it's white, tall and an umbillifer of some sort. I'll have to post a picture so you can identify it for me, one of these days.

Midlife Roadtripper said...

I believe successful farmers must have an extra dose of patience. And, we'll take your rain.

Dave King said...

The farmer's placid response to the weather is in line with the stereotype for the man of the land. Another fine post. Let's hope he is suitably rewarded soon.

Titus said...

We've got an awful lot of vetch this year! Obviously it must be Purple Vetch weather.

Crafty Green Poet said...

lots of vetches (of various species) round in the green bits of Edinburgh too. Lovely flowers