Plants both wild & cultivated now beginning to bloom
Each day as I travel around Dublin city & suburbs there are many plants that catch my gardening focused attention. Especially as it's now the beginning of summer & the plant kingdom is really firing on all cylinders. Obviously wild plants (sometimes labelled weeds) are ahead of their cultivated cousins. Why? Wild plants are basically tougher & have evolved to survive in the most extreme conditions; which is the reason they come into bloom that bit earlier. Cultivated plants have been somewhat diluted by the intervention & manipulation of science. This is not necessarily a bad thing. If we didn't have the advances in plant cultivation that exist today - the human race would have disappeared. Remember: 'Plants are the miracle of life' - they are organic & provide essential ingredients in both the human & animal food chain.Cultivated plants which will be discussed in future posts include:
- Buddleja davidii - the Butterfly Bush
- Viburnum davidii - collected some of the female tiny, oval, metallic-blue fruits
- Viola 'Jackanapes'
- Cornus controversa 'Variegata' - The Wedding Cake Tree
- Iris
- Heuchera
- Ceanothus - Californian lilac will flower much better in a sheltered, sunny, south-facing aspect
- Pansy
- Imperial Lily
Centranthus ruber [Red Valerian] has been coming into flower over the past 3 weeks. This perennial belongs to the same plant species as Valeriana officinalis [Common Valerian]. Habitat: grassy places, scrub; mostly damp soils. Plenty of specimens exist: at the 14A terminus in Dundrum & along stone wall sections of the Dodder River.
Plantago lanceolata [Ribwort] is a perennial & is now flowering. It's flowering period is April - August. Habitat: grassland; all but most acid soils. Narrow-leaved Plantains grow by the coast or in sandy & rocky places inland. A fine specimen can be seen next to some house steps close to the Teachers' Club in Parnell Square West, Dublin city.
posted by Thomas @ 7:27 pm
1 Comments:
'a Nice blog..just hearing the names of some of these plants is a pleasure in itself.
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