Monday 1 May 2017

Bank Holiday Blues*

* Contents and colour may vary. Other colours are available.

 Another Bank Holiday befalls us Brits, so what better way to use up some of the yay-I'm-not-at-work time than to have a quick wander around the countryside?

The bluebells of Smallhopes Hill

Red campion

Death comes quickly/Storksbill (Geranium robertianum), aka "Stinky Bob" in the state of Washington, apparently...

British bluebells, not those Spanish thugs (happy, Jon?)

Birdseye speedwell

A washed out speedwell

Wild strawberry (Camera seems to have focused on the dead twigs rather than the flower, drat it!)

Someone's abode

Those pernicious, but pretty, weeds Jon was talking about

Violet

Forget-me-not

Some, uh... things

Primroses
Some different things

Thingies being visited by a bee

Dandelion clock
Oops! Looks like a victim of Chrysaor's last visit

The Witches' Tree. Looks like Brittaline deTarfth has been busy as I certainly haven't added anyone else to it!

24 comments:

  1. Good to know Nor-fuck escaped the rain today. My plans for gardening were sadly washed out. So I did what everyone does on a wet Bank Holiday - I went to B&Q. In Tottenham. Oh, the glamour...

    Anyhoo. Photos. The "uh... things" in order of appearance are: Lamium ("dead-nettle") - a cultivated variety that's escaped, by the looks; Anemone nemerosa; another (native) dead-nettle.

    I'm rapidly becoming the "Official Plant-Spotter" at Castelette Device, aren't I?

    Jx

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    1. Actually, looking at the situation of those white flowers - and if that is a close-up photo ('cos they are tiny) - it's possibly Stellaria holostea ("white stitchwort"). Jx

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    2. B&Q? In Tottenham? The glamour, indeed...

      Still, it hasn't done your plant-spotting any harm - Thank you so much for filling in my thingies! As a reward, I do hereby decree that you are, in fact, The Official Plant-Spotter of Castlette DeVice and its Extensive Witchdom.

      And, yes, after some research, I agree that the second "things" are stitchwort.

      Delete
    3. Thank you for the title, my dear! Does it come with a ceremonial cloak? Jx

      PS "Filling in your thingies"? Fnaar, fnaar.

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    4. I don't know if the budget will stretch to a cloak? I could ask Princess if she can run up something suitable? Or LẌ might be able to stretch to an embroidered teacloth? Failing that, I'm sure I have a spare doily around here somewhere...

      As for my now-filled thingies - I couldn't resist!

      Delete
  2. Blimey! What happened to the rest of the chess pieces? One lone knight swept the board?
    What a lovely meander.Yes, even with rampant ***ing forget me nots and nettles.Lovely spring walk.(I'm just off to feed next door's cat so I'll take a camera-very jungly there after the storms)

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    1. Either that Knight was victorious, or all the other peices are swamped in nettles and that escaped lamium?

      I'm on the edge of my seat with the anticipation of seeing your next-door's jungle!

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  3. I don't get how one can remember the names of all these ... greens.

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    1. Well, now that Jon has been ordained as the Official Plant-Spotter, you can clear your pretty head of such concerns and fill it instead with Marvellous Music of a Sunday Variety!

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  4. What wonderfully lush greenery! I especially like some uh... things and some different things!

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    1. But not the thingies? I'm sure they won't take offence...

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  5. fyi: i am still annoyed about the death of downton.

    ReplyDelete
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    1. I'll have a word Dame Maggie next time she pops round for a gin & blackberry. We'll soon have it back on the air!

      Or on our backs with legs in the air as that gin she favours is quite strong...

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  6. Beautiful....they have cheered me up. What in hell is that horse head doing way out there??? I do so love me some bluebells. Better than blueballs, don't you agree?

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    1. Perhaps it was trying to escape a godfathering?
      If it was trying to escape blueballs, it's clearly failed as the castration appears to have been a little on the enthusiastic side, what with only being left with a head and neck...

      Delete
  7. We had ice pellets yesterday.

    And so far, only the daffodils have shown their faces.

    Thank you for showing me signs of things to (possibly) come.

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    1. If it makes you feel any better, we had some hail and sleet last week.
      I'm sure it won't be long until your bloomers will be on show for all to see!

      Delete
  8. What a marvelous variety of colorful and scintillating flowers! I quite like the spooky horse head and faces trees--both are perfect locations to get some laughs from scaring the heck out of people. But my fave of all these is the foto of the wild strawberry flower--because I like strawberries and now I want to snack on strawberries

    ReplyDelete
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    1. Hopefully it won't be long before I can show you photos of the actual strawberry.
      Be warned, though: Don't go scrumping strawberries from Brittaline DeTarfth's patch or you'll end up in that tree!

      Delete
  9. All this flora growing native... are some of them not garden escapees? Arum lollies are like a plague around here along with pampas grass and gazania daisies, they have become a roadside weed. It's not unusual for them to be found in dense carpets along either side of the roads here stretching for literally miles at a time... like 20miles.... on the main highways... they provide some lovely colour while driving but have become a noxious weed crowding out the native plants...

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    1. Yes, I think the first lamium (as Official Plant Spotter Jon has mentioned) and possibly the forget-me-not are escapees?
      Your neck of the woods with its escapees sounds quite spectacular. Although any gazania trying to grow wild around here will get gazumped by goosegrass and nettles in very short order.

      Delete
  10. It is actually hilarious the difference in our approaches to a bank holiday. None of your greenery for me, concrete and dereliction as per.

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    1. Actually, I did see a small swathe of grass in one of your photos. And there is that concrete horse head in mine...

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    2. Quick, uproot it. It's obviously been put there by a brutalist architect and will take over everything!

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Tickle my fancy, why don't you?