Entries tagged "shade"

Wildflower Ways

2013-04-08

It is an exciting time of year, there is a lot of vernal energy pent up, all coiled and ready to leap over the barrier of recent low temperatures. The wildflowers have been biding their time, but the next six weeks will force their hand. From late spring to mid-summer it can be a case of clue overload as the wealth of new flowers draws our eyes in all directions. This makes early spring a good time to savour the few clues that are around. Almost everyone can recognise a primrose or a daffodil, so a good…

Where the Wildflowers Are

2012-05-19

Walking through a narrow, predominantly damp and shady deciduous woodland yesterday afternoon I was suddenly greeted by sunshine on my right cheek and a group of Early Purple Orchids by my left foot. The two experiences were almost certainly related. The break in the trees, at a spot where the path had swerved towards the edge of the woodland, had allowed sunlight into the otherwise dark dank green. There had been no orchids for a hundred metres and there were no orchids for the hundred metres beyond that spot. The only environmental variable that I could tell had…