A Botanical Journey mostly from Kent & SE England

 It's November as I write this, which is a shame. I would prefer to keep my blogs current so you, the reader, can go out and try and find some of the amazing wildflowers I come across too. However, life conspires against me to keep things like this blog up to date. So instead, look at this as either nostalgic of the season now gone, or as inspiration for planning a trip next Summer to find such plants for yourself. Either way, I hope you enjoy reading this blog and gain some inspiration for the wonders of the natural world on our doorstep. By the time August comes along, most or our wild orchids have come and gone, but Violet Helleborine may still be found in flower. Most years, I find new colonies in suitable woodland habitats around the county. Here, I found 3 plants with a few flowers still open on a road verge on Pembury Walks. Nearby, were also some Broad-leaved Helleborines still in flower too, also a new find for the monad. Epipactis purpurata This is Toad Rush (below), a sm...

 It is of course peak season for wildflowers and trying to sort out what to include and what to leave out is difficult. I hope you like the final selection below.   Yellow Bartsia is a plant that eluded me for several years. I failed to find it at three other sites where it had previously been found. By happy chance though, I found several hundred growing on railway land near Shorne, ironically, not too far away from my home area.   Parentucellia viscosa There is a small reserve near Kemsing on the North Downs chalk stuffed full of orchids including Bee, Man, Greater Butterfly, Common Spotted, Chalk Fragrant, Pyramidal and others. Here is an all white variant of a Chalk Fragrant Orchid from this amazing venue. It is also the only orchid I am including here as I have posted so many in the past, I am now trying to show different plants of interest when I can. Gymnadenia conopsea A trip along the Thames near Greenhithe produced some of these weird looking little pea plants...