power plant

I am sure many of you have heard of Japanese Knotweed , a huge plant that is considered one of the worst invasive species worldwide, growing up to 30cm a day and spreading by rhizomes deep in the soil. Well, we have something similar in our garden: Bohemian Knotweed . Reynoutria x bohemica.  It is in fact a cross between Japanese Knotweed and Giant Knotweed. The leaves are much larger – up to 30cm – and a kind of elongated heart shape. It can grow to over three metres tall and the stems are extremely tough and hollow, resembling young bamboo shoots. It is actually a very attractive plant, and I expect that was why Japanese Knotweed was introduced to parks and gardens as an ornamental plant in the west in the 19th century – before they realized how rapidly it spread. Not only does it have beautiful foliage, the white flowers which open in August also look quite majestic the way they stand upright. (And in autumn the leaves often turn a lovely burnt orange colour.) Bohemian ...

As always, I am pleased to join Cathy at Rambling in the Garden for her lovely meme. Sharing a vase each Monday is a wonderful way to start the week! Within the last two days our temperatures have dropped tremendously and this morning it is overcast and a chilly 14°C. Brrrr!  So this vase, which I prepared on Saturday while it was still blazing hot, was actually photographed in glorious sunshine. Look at that blue sky! I wonder what word comes to mind…. ‘autumn’ perhaps? The Golden Rod has been opening for a week or two and is now at its peak – perfect for a vase as its flowers heads offer support to other stems. Such as Rudbeckia ‘Goldsturm’, Sunflowers, Helenium ‘Sahin’s Early Flowerer’ and various Miscanthus. I cut some coneflower seedheads and removed any traces of the browning petals. A few sprigs of the dark red Persicaria ‘Blackfield’, some deep red Physocarpus foliage and a single Gaillardia also provide a bit of darker contrast. And then, just for the fun of it, I...

  Mexican Sunflower (Tithonia) and Peacock Butterfly

This is one of the most common weeds that pops up in my flower beds and vegetable garden all through the year. So common and so unspectacular in fact that I have never bothered to identify it. Until now! Its common name is Goosefoot , or White Goosefoot , but there are many other regional names. Another common name is Lamb’s Quarters . (Any ideas why?!) Botanically it is called Chenopodium album , and is widespread across all of Europe, Asia and North America. Definitely a weed, not a wild flower! Here it is growing in my strawberry bed, where I also grow Coriander (Cilantro) and salad greens. In most parts of the world it is treated as a pesky weed in crop fields. In India however, it is harvested as a kind of spinach. Maybe I should try cooking some up one day! It is very high in vitamins and minerals, such as Vitamin C, A and Calcium. Goosefoot grows upright and produces a long white flower bud that looks almost as if it has mildew. I have seen them up to a metre tall, but I u...

A group of very tall weeds caught my eye earlier in the summer. When I looked up the name I found out it was possibly what we picked as children to put on a nettle sting or insect bite. We called it Milk Thistle. I wonder if any of my readers can verify this, as I know there are several wild plants called milk thistles, depending on where you live! The botanical name is Lactuca serriola. You can see a single one below… about 2 metres tall. Another common name for this European native is Prickly Lettuce (see the leaves on the one below) and Lactuca serriola is in fact the wild form of our common cultivated lettuce (Lactuca sativa) and is edible, but very bitter. And yet some have quite smooth leaves, like in the next photo. This plant does indeed have a milky substance in the stems that has a pain-relieving and calming effect. In herbal medicine it is used both internally and externally, especially for curing warts! The fleshy stems are tall and slender, with tiny yellow dandeli...

The dog days are here, and it is HOT! This is the hottest period of the year in the northern hemisphere and is named after the ‘Dog Star’ Sirius. I have been reading why, and learned that Sirius is the brightest star in the Canis Major constellation. The so-called dog days take place every year from July 23rd through to August 23rd while Sirius is visible low on the horizon at sunrise. To mark the dog days, I found a prop for my vase today, as I join Cathy at Rambling in the Garden for her weekly meme. This was a gift from my friend Simone, handmade, many years ago. It was very fitting at the time as we had a beautiful Irish Wolfhound (Ceilidh) back then.   Despite the heat (and earwigs!) I actually have some rather pretty Dahlias in flower. I shared my views on dahlias a few weeks ago, but this particular one may actually end up being saved and given special treatment next year. And my title also refers to its name: ‘Feline Yvonne’ . (Did someone have a cat called Yvonne?!...

Once again I am sharing a Wednesday weed/wild flower (you decide!) from my garden and meadow. Recently I have been noticing a pretty pale pink flower in the meadow that reminds me of nettle flowers. When I looked it up I found it is in fact in the nettle family (Lamiceae): Galeopsis tetrahit, Common Hemp-Nettle. I have never noticed this flower before and have since found it in our hedges too – with a little shade the flowers are a deeper purply pink and the leaves not quite as pale. Then I realized that this is the weed that I have seen in my Butterfly Bed for the last couple of years underneath an obelisk where the sparrows like to sit and mice and hares pass through. I have probably weeded it out before it flowers in the past, but this year I overlooked it and it is flowering in my flower bed! Galeopsis tetrahit  is a hairy plant, growing to about 70 cm tall in places. The flowers are like salvia, or snapdragons, and have beautiful markings on the petals to guide the bum...

A new vase came home with me the other day – I made a brief stop at the garden centre on my way home and this shell was among my ‘catches’. It is fairly small, but perfect for standing on the dining table. I decided to use some Limonium latifolium – sea lavender (‘beach lilac’ in German), inspiring the title and hence the props.   Unfortunately a day at the beach is not possible here in Bavaria as I would have to drive at least six hours one way! So my little arrangement and my seashells, collected many years ago on a North Norfolk beach (UK), are a sweet reminder of feeling the sand between my toes and a salty breeze in my hair. (The small crochet picture used as a table mat was simply an experiment one rainy day.) The other flowers used are: One of my first Japanese Anemone flowers – they began opening as always in the last week of July. This one is called ‘Serenade’. Some Anaphalis triplinervis ‘Silberregen’. This dries nicely and I must remember to pick a bit more to ...