A Botanical Journey mostly from Kent & SE England

The Low Weald doesn't get a lot of botanical attention so I intended to put this right with a visit to Headcorn. Parking at the station and walking a circular walk using public footpaths and roads - this is what I found. Columbine is an awkward species to record as it is both a native and a garden escape. Native forms should have blue flowers and long, curled spurs. This then is obviously a garden escape! I commonly find it near gardens in various colour forms and usually with short spurs. Aquilegia vulgaris I had parked at the railway station and as I walked across the railway bridge to access south of the railway I found this plant on the footbridge! This is Small Toadflax, a plant I'd only seen before in arable fields, but here it was effectively a pavement plant. Chaenorhinum minus Hawthorn isn't necessarily straightforward, There are Hawthorn, Midland Hawthorn and the hybrid between the two to c

There is currently an interesting debate on what constitues a wildflower verge. This came about as councils were being urged not to mow verges so that wildflowers could grow aand set seed and provide food for insects. As usual, councils don't seem to get it; the neat and tidy brigade don't like wildflowers growing all by themselves, so they would prefer to dig up and till their verges, then sow a non native flower mix instead. A council up north has sown many miles of road verges with such a mix. This is of limited use to native insects who have specific needs from UK wild plants and of course, takes up space leaving less room for native species to exist. It also costs money and has a limited life, whereas native plants cot nothing and will self sustain with minimal management. As such, this blog highlights the impact alien species are having once they escape from gardens into the wild, in this case into one of the few remaining dune systems left in Kent. Imagine the cha