Rhapsody in Blue?

There are flowers bursting out everywhere, thanks to the warm weather and – dare I say it? – summer.  The more obvious bluebells abound near houses, though the true native  bluebell  (Hyacinthoides non-scripta)is a scarcity here, as most of the plants you will see are the garden variety or Spanish Bluebell (Hyacinthoides hispanica) or a cross between the two (Hyacinthoides x massartiana).  For more information check out this Plantlife article.

Spanish and hybrid Bluebells by Loch Imrich

The other obvious blue flowers that are out now are the Speedwells.  These are much smaller than bluebells . I have  already mentioned  the Slender Speedwell (Veronica filiformis) in a previous post. There are several  other kinds and I found three of them in my garden whilst weeding the veg patch. Here they are (after being weeded…)

Wall Speedwell, Thyme-leaved Speedwell and 2 Germander Speedwell

The most obvious one is Germander Speedwell (Veronica chamaedrys), which forms large patches. It has the largest flower and leaf.

Germander Speedwell

Germander Speedwell

Next is the Thyme-leaved Speedwell (Veronica serpyllifolia) which has a smaller flower with  white and purple on the petals.

Thyme-leaved Speedwell

Then, with a tiny deep blue flower, is Wall Speedwell (Veronica arvensis). I have never seen it in walls but it does like dry ground.

Wall Speedwell

 All quite small, but if you don't mind getting on your hands and knees for a closer look, very beautiful.

 Links

Plantlife What is the difference between Spanish and Native Bluebells?

Slender Speedwell post

Winter-cresses

This week, I have seen several examples of Winter-cress growing locally in Newtonmore. It is not common around here but is very easy to spot when it is flowering as it has bright yellow flowers, with four petals arranged in a cross (it’s a crucifer).

Winter-cress (Barbarea vulgaris) is growing up Glen Banchor in the quarry/car parking space just past the second cattle grid. I only noticed it last year but there is a big clump which is unmissable as it is the only plant growing in the sandy bank. 

Winter-cress in Glen Banchor

It is there again this year and a few more plants have seeded around it.

  Another place it is growing is the corner where Station Road meets the track to the Jack Richmond Park. 

Winter-cress

It has shiny green leaves. The upper ones on the stem are fairly simple with a few lobes.

The second sort is Medium-flowered Winter-cress (Barbarea intermedia) which is on the Wildcat Trail which goes alongside the Kingussie Road (B970).  This one is generally smaller than Winter-cress.

Medium-flowered Winter-cress

One way of telling them apart is by looking at the leaves up the stem, their shape and how they clasp the stem. Medium-flowered Wintercress has leaves up the stem which are more deeply cut into lobes and where it meets the stem there are two projections sticking out past the stem.  

Medium-flowered Winter-cress auricles

 In Winter-cress these “ears” (botanical term is auricles) are not as long and don’t stick out past the stem, and the leaves are less deeply cut.

Winter-cress auricles

I also have a third variety   in the garden called American Winter-cress (Barbarea verna). It is like a very large version of Medium-flowered Winter-cress. 

American Winter-cress

The stem leaves have the same kind of  sticky-out auricles as Medium-flowered Wintercress.

 The seed was sold as an alternative to water-cress which will grow in drier conditions.  I won’t need to buy it again as it self seeds around the garden. It is not as productive of foliage as water cress would be and has a peppery taste.

Forget-me-nots

You are probably familiar with the forget-me-not that grows in gardens.  In a wildflower book, this one is called Wood Forget-me-not (Myosotis sylvatica).   It is an annual and grows from seed each year, flowering early and making a welcome sight when there is not much else about.  Once it has flowered, it produces lots of seed  and will pop up all over the garden - hence the name forget-me-not. 

Wood Forget-me-not

It easily establishes itself if any garden rubbish is dumped and today I found an attractive drift of it at the back of a lay-by (near the Allt Laraidh / Highland Folk Museum).

It is a bit of a giveaway that it came with garden rubbish as there are daffodils there as well! The yellow flower at the centre has the exciting name of Leopard's-bane and the even longer scientific name of Doronicum pardalianches.  It grows in shady areas, and not only spreads by seed but grows large fat white roots so it comes up year after year.

Leopard's-bane

There are many types of wild Forget-me-nots but the one I saw in flower this week was  the Changing Forget-me-not (Myosotis discolor). The flowers change from cream or yellow to blue which sounded intriguing and I was keen to see one.  I wasn't disappointed.  It is tiny but, for me, "small is beautiful" for this flower.  

It has a curled flower head with the older  flowers on the outside and new ones forming in the centre.

The flowers really are tiny, just 2mm across. They open yellow or cream coloured and then change to blue or pink.

Changing Forget-me-nots

They are another annual, and like disturbed bare ground.  This patch is by the 17th Tee  on Newtonmore Golf Course. (On Walk 2 in my book.)  There is also a neglected flowerbed there which last year was covered in Changing Forget-me-nots, but now that grass has grown over it, I could not see any, apart from these clumps at the base of the mini retaining wall for the tee.

Violas three

On a walk around the  edges of the lower Newtonmore Golf course, I saw three kinds of Violas - two violets and a pansy.
The first one was Common Dog-violet (Viola riviniana) which is quite easy to spot if you are in grass or woodland as there is plenty of it about in Spring.  It is small but the purple flowers show up amongst the grass and it can form quite big clumps (especially at Loch Imrich on the  grassy slopes opposite the log house).

Common Dog-violet

The leaves are heart shaped with a point at the tip.  This helps to distinguish it from the other violet I saw, Marsh Violet (Viola palustris).  As the name suggests it grows in wetter places.  Its leaves are rounder with no point, and the flower is paler.

Marsh Violet - note the rounded leaf

Marsh Violet

The third viola was Mountain Pansy (Viola lutea). The flowers come in various combinations of yellow and purple.

As it spreads by sending out runners, you can find large patches of exactly the same colour.  

Mountain Pansy on Golf Course

It also produces seed which can give rise to new colour combinations.

Wood-rushes - little and large

If you walk on Newtonmore Golf Course - which is easy at the moment as there are no golfers owing to the Covid-19 restrictions - amongst the short grass you can spot patches of greyish grass.

If you look carefully, the blades of grass are hairy.

In fact it isn't grass at all, but a tiny Wood-rush.  This one is called Field Wood-rush (Luzula campestris) and grows about 6 inches (15 cm) tall when it escapes the mower.  Its "flower" at the top of the stalk is chestnut brown and when flowering the yellow pollen-bearing anthers stick out making it more conspicuous.
It like the drier areas so grows on the top of ridges.

It is probably growing in your lawn - it's growing in mine.

The second Wood-rush is the opposite - it is big - the biggest of all the Wood-rushes, it grows under trees and most of the places I have seen it are fairly damp.  It grows along the banks of the Spey, right at the edge. (Having said that, I have just seen it in another Newtonmore garden on some dry areas under trees, so it can't be too fussy.)  It's the Great Wood-rush (Luzula sylvatica). Really wide leaves,  which are hairy - like all the Wood-rushes,

Great Wood-rush by the Spey, with Wood Anemone around it.

Hairy broad leaf

Great Wood-rush 'flower'