A Botanical Journey mostly from Kent & SE England

I was still suffering ill health at this time and could not walk far from the car.  As churchyards are often great places for wildflowers I thought I would visit a local one and see what Spring flowers might be up there. Perhaps one of the commonest Spring flowers seen is the humble Lesser Celandine, and there were fine displays of them here as well with each flower reflecting the sun's golden rays back to any person caring to admire them. On cloudy or wet days they stay firmly closed as Wordsworth noticed! Wordsworth wrote a poem about this plant. Here's a paragraph from it, though you can view the entire poem by searching for it on the internet, it's quite long! " There is a Flower, the Lesser Celandine, That shrinks, like many more, from cold and rain; And, the first moment that the sun may shine, Bright as the sun himself, ’tis out again !".  Ficaria verna Another common Spring wildflower is the Red Dead-Nettle. While they are small flo

From November 2018 to the time of writing (April 2019) I have been unwell with a  heart condition. This has of course curtailed much of my botanising. However, I do have some good days and when they come I try to get out and about, though I have to restrict myself to easy and short walks. This day was one of those good days and my partner and I visited Ightam Mote, a National Trust property near Tonbridge. There wasn't an awful lot to see at this time of the year, so unusually I will include a couple of planted species as well. Here's some Hellebores planted in the garden, a common planted flower to give some colour at this time of the year. Helleborus x hybridus Lenten Rose In past years I have actually found these escaped into the wild, so it's worth getting to know some garden plants for one's recording trips. Another common garden escape are Snowdrops. There are lots of varieties, but most escapees (in my area) tend t

This blog relates to a short walk around the grounds of the grand old house and castle of  Scotney Castle near Lamberhurst on the Kent/Sussex border. A National Trust owned property. Some more photos of the buildings.   Well that's enough of the architecture, exciting though it was. A Butcher's Broom bush had some flowers open.  Ruscus aculeatus However, it looks planted to me. These are common in the wild on the chalk of North Kent, but uncommon on poorer, acid soils as it was here. One of the planted cherry trees coming into flower.   There were plenty of ancient or mature planted trees to admire as well. One of several very tall Redwoods in the grounds. I've mentioned these before. These plants are Navelwort, a very uncommon plant in Kent or Sussex, yet it found its way into the base of a mature oak tree. Staff confirmed to me in prev