Beautiful Erica

Purpley pink now dresses the forests' heaths as the Bell Heather blooms.

Common Broomrape

Common Broomrape (Orobanche minor), a plant which reflects beauty and ugly in equal measure. It's been a good year for them. The narrow strip of old woodland alongside Hinton Avenue has been full of Broomrape, usually you'll see a handful here and there though this year they've carpets small areas. I don't know if that's a good sign or not, Broomrape's a parasitic plant. It's an odd one too, no leaves, just a flowering spike protruding from the ground.

Ramsons

This years Ramson's (Allium ursinum) are beginning to come through on cue, nice to see, though it'll be a while yet until they're carpeting the woodland floors. A wood of flowering Ramson's is a wonderful sight, properly magical in the right light, as well as being a tasty and versatile wild food. Don't use too much though, it's powerful stuff. I had to throw a soup away one time, it was just sooooo garlicky, that it was inedible... and I'm a fan of garlic. 

Lady's Mantle in the morning

I woke early this morning, before the sun had properly risen, outside I could faintly see stars as they slowly vanished into the creeping blue. I could also see that Jack had been busy, as over the rooftops and gardens there was a dusting of frost, the first proper one I'd seen this autumn too. Proper as it was, by the time I'd had my coffee and got together to go out, it had all melted...obviously not as hard a frost as I'd imagined. Still, it did leave the Lady's Mantle and other herbs beautifully bejewelled.  Which is always nice.

Yellow Archangel

Yellow Archangel (Lamium galeobdolon) is a member of the dead Nettle family, there are around 50 members of the dead nettle family, all bringing colour to our countryside. I think they're a wonderful family of plants, all have delicate and intricately fashioned flowers, and all display admirable fortitude and endurance in the environmental corners in which they'll survive and thrive.  Though to see them at their best, is to see them on mass in a woodland setting, augmented with other coloured spring blooms...wonderful. Though many would describe them as a 'weed', silly people, what really is a weed after all. 

Seedy

We've a well established Fennel plant (Foeniculum vulgare) growing in the garden, it must have been there for 4 or so years now, and this year has reached the magnificent height of about 8 foot, with myriad seed heads. Such a lovely plant, and with plenty of uses too. Used in cooking, especially fish or egg dishes, it's filigree leaves add a distinctive aniseed taste, whereas its seeds, are a well used spice in middle Eastern and Asian cooking, fennel was also one of the three herbs used in the production of Absinthe. The seeds have practical uses too, chewed as breath fresheners or as a digestive. Nature provides us with so many useful plants, though for the most part they go neglected and their bounty uncollected.  I'm hoping to collect and dry a good quantity of seed this year.  

Seed head

Stream side seed head.

Down lotty

Geoff has restricted my movements somewhat, he's a ton of work, lovely, but it's like being under siege, you think you've got your defences set, only to find there are more weaknesses for your opponent to exploit than you ever imagined, and you're constantly playing catch up. That said, I've ensured I've got down on the allotment every day, well, you have too, if you're absent from the field of battle, nature will make you pay. Bless her, nature is relentless, and unforgiving if don't tend to her, one years seed seven years weed, and all that.  I've got half the dig-able plot open at the moment (the rest being covered), the onions, shallots, carrots, courgettes, runners, chard, tatties, Hamburg parsley (never grown this before) and leeks are all thriving, with a 9 tomato plants in the greenhouse along with peppers, chillies and cucumbers, and a fruit cage bursting with developing, strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, gooseberries and blackcurrants. And I've a range of brassicas and beans still plant to plant. I love the realness of the lotty, the contact with the land and nature, and that timeless feeling you get from engaging in activities our ancestors have undertaken for millennia. Food don't taste too bad either.

Purple poppy

To me poppies epitomize delicate transient beauty. Intricate and fragile they shine for a day and them they're gone, no slow decline for them. This year they've been some gorgeous colours, deep rich reds through mauves and pinks to the most imperial purples. Always keeping on a prepping tip, and with an eye the countries slow demise, it's worth remembering that the poppy is also a useful and very potent medicinal plant. Even our British Opium Poppy (Papaver somniferum) will produce low grade opium, effective enough as a pain killer if required. An understanding of our field and hedgerow plants medicinal, food and resource uses would have been commonplace in the past, and may well become invaluable in the future.

Cotton Grass

Cotton Grass (Eriophorum angustifolium) is a common sight in the wetter parts of the forest, whether in vast swathes or smaller patches in isolated hollows, it's a nice plant to see when in flower. Well, that's not necessarily true, it's the pollinated seed heads which are white and fluffy, not the flowers which are quite plain green and brown. Still, it's a lovely plant to see. They're good too, acting as a natural warning. If you understand nature she'll often give clues as to the nature of her terrain and what to expect there...cotton grass means you're likely to get wet if you're not careful. Cheers Mother, I'll choose my path carefully.

Tutsan

Tutsan (Hypericum androsaemum) adds vibrant colour to the currently muted forest. It wont be long before the surrounding trees take on similar colours. Personally, I can't wait!

Woolly Thistle

The Woolly Thistle (Cirsium eriophorum) is one of our rarer thistles.

Heralds of Spring

Snowdrops (Galanthus nivalis) are the heralds of Spring, emerging first in one and twos, then to carpet the woods and banks. Lovely!

A Primrose!

I know the Primrose (Primula vulgaris) is one of the earliest flowering of the spring plants, they're usually in flower from about the end of February / beginning of March, but surely the first week of January is taking the piss. That said I do love them, especially when carpeting an ancient woodland. Years ago a friend and I used to make a lot of flower and fruit wines, and on one occasion came across a secluded (I mean really secluded, to the point of being hardly accessible) wood in Purbeck packed with Primroses, where we collected enough flowers to make a gallon of wine each (you didn't need that many really). The wine was very nice as I remember, and even after we'd collected you'd not have known we'd been there.  You don't have to have a destructive impact on nature to enjoy her bounties.  I've been back to the wood many times since and it still hosts a thriving Primrose community. 

Rosemary

Rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis) is a funny plant, it flowers at the most peculiar times. Ours has flowers on it now, lovely purple pink flowers. I use Rosemary quite frequently in cooking, it's always available and versatile too. We put a £2.50 plant in, 5 years ago and now it's like a head high shrub. I wonder how easy it is to take cuttings from it?  I had this idea of propagating herb plants and guerilla planting select combinations of them, seeding useful herb communities. They could be culinary or medicinal, 4 or 5 plant combinations. My hope for them would be twofold, firstly that they would self propagate and become self sustaining populations, secondly, that they'd become a useful resource for people. I know how much I value and cherish the herb/plant resources I know. Might be a worthwhile undertaking. 

Broomrape

Broomrape (Orobanche). I'm not certain which of the Orobanche family this is, although I think it's Knapweed Broomrape (Orobanche elatior). Broomrapes are parasitic plants, and having no chlorophyll, and so no green leaves or the ability to photosynthesise, it takes all its nutrition from its host plant. Listed as 'widespread though not common' it is not too common a sight in the places I walk, although here on Martin Down is one place I usually see it. An interesting plant on several levels. It's always a pleasure to spot the unusual.

Mutant Foxglove

A mutant Foxglove (Digitalis pupurea) with a terminal peloric flower (Digitalis purpurea monstrosa).

Badbury sundown

A Ribwort Plantain (Plantago lanceolata) flowering on the uppermost hillfort rampart is silhouetted in front of the sinking Sun. It doesn't matter at which scale you look at nature, from the immense to the microscopic, it's saturated with beauty. 

Cow Parsley

The green lanes which bisect the Chase are currently bordered by thick swathes of Cow Parsley (Anthriscus sylvestris).  A beautiful sight. On the whole I'm cautious when it comes to umbellifers, so many and so easily confused, many of which are poisonous, the most notable and most dangerous example being Hemlock (Conium maculatum), the poison given to Socrates. I do love the flowers of Cow Parsley though.

Greater Stitchwort

Greater Stitchwort (Stellaria holostea)