Diary 2008

May 8th

After a cold March and a wet and gloomy April the weather has surged straight past Spring into early summer with temperatures today in the 25C region. There are now 1700 plants illustrated on the site as a whole with a considerable queue of European and Australian flowers waiting to be published.

April 5th

Back from Andalucia in Spain after eight days of beautiful weather most temperatures around 20C with clear blue sky and loads of wild flowers. Even the roses were in flower. Plants will be added rather slowly to the site during April as I'm still trying to identify species from the 1,200 photos taken on holiday.

March 25th

No more web site entries until April 2nd .... plant hunting and photography takes precedence!!

March 21st

Passed a landmark in that there are now over 100 Australian plants illustrated on the site but there are over 200 to add and so it's unlikely to be finished in 2008. Meanwhile the European total is gradually increasing with 171 on site but with 176 yet to add. There are also 14 unpublished British plants which I'm keeping to vary the output a bit.

March 7th

This is the first time that I can remember enjoying seven dry days at the beginning of March. The Wild Flower Society has a competition to see what plants we can find in flower during the first week of March and with the weather staying dry I was able to go out every day. A total of 109 flowers were found during that time which is a record for me.

February 14th

We've had some fine days at the beginning of February with temperatures as high as 15 or 16 C. The nesting birds are fooled into thinking winter is over and I've seen two Red Admiral butterflies. On the 12th February I visited Warley Place which was once a house and garden in the 1930s but has been left to its own devices for over 70 years.

The flowers have escaped into the surrounding countryside and provided us with blue Scillas and masses of Daffodils and Crocuses. We saw:

Galanthus nivalis (Snowdrop)

Galanthus plicatus ssp plicatus (Pleated Snowdrop)

Scilla bithynica (Turkish Squill)

Crocus vernus (Spring Crocus)

Ranunculus ficaria (Lesser Celandine)

Narcissus pseudonarcissus (Daffodil)

Ruscus aculateus (Butcher's-broom)

Mahonia aquifolium (Orgeon Grape)

Vinca major var. oxylobar (Periwinkle)

Trachystemon orientalis (Abraham, Isaac and Jacob)

Duchesnea indica (Yellow Stawberry)

Scilla bifolia (Alpine Squill)

Pulmonaria officinalis(Lungwort)

Pentaglottis sempervirens (Green Alkanet)

Symphytum grandiflorum (Creeping Comfrey)

Cymbalaria muralis (Ivy-leaved Toadflax)

Leucojum vernum (Spring Snowflake)

Selaginella kraussiana (Krauss's Clubmoss)

Galanthus elwesii (Greater Snowdrop)

Leucojum aestivum ssp. pulchellum (Summer Snowflake)

Parrotia persica (Persian Ironwood)

Galanthus ikariae ( (Green snowdrop)

Mahonia japonica (Japanese Mahonia)

Viola odorata (Sweet Violet)

Saroccoca confusa (Christmas Box)

all in flower!

January 28th

Those who doubt that flowering seasons are earlier should look at what grows this time of year. Not only are there one or two gardens with both daffodils and snowdrops fully out, the Winter Heliotrope (Petasites fragrans) is all but finished. Lesser celandine (Ranunculus ficaria) is no longer an unusual sight in January and as usual I found a plant in full flower in early December 2007.

Perhaps though the indication of how warmer our winters have become is shown not by perennials or bulbs but by annuals and today I found a flowering Veronica hederifolia (Ivy-leaved Speedwell) which I would normally expect to be no more than a germinated seedling with two cotyledons at this time of year.

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