As well as all the garden plants coming to life at the moment, the weeds are doing well too. Here are a selection from my garden.
Urtica dioica (Stinging nettle)Stinging nettles are great plants, really interesting and useful. They are one of the few plants in the UK that show sexual dimorphism, that is have male and female types, the photo is of a female. You can tell the difference as the females have the flowers and DON'T sting..honest try it. They also taste good when cooked and make fantastic liquid compost.
Taraxacum (Dandelion)Dandelions are beautiful, if they didn't spread like mad I think people would grow them for show. Of course the problem is that this lovely flower turns into this:
Taraxacum (Dandelion)One of the most efficient dipersal system in the plant kingdom, but also one of the most beautiful and amazing ones.Which gardener out there can honestly say they have never picked one and blown the seeds off it?
Galium aparine (Goosegrass or Common Cleavers)Now this one is evil, it grows like mad climbing through everything. It also sticks to you when you touch it. If it goes to seed it is even worse, they stick to everything, especially cats. I have spent many evenings getting scratched is I have pulled them out of fur!
Lovely pictures. I'm a great fan of weeds. And it is true that 'grasping the nettle' works too. It's the bits you don't grasp while you are grasping the bits you are grasping which cause the havoc. You can also fold up a nettle leaf so the edges are in a little parcel, squash it flat and eat it raw. (I wouldn't bother though unless you are wanting to impress friends with your bravery. They don't taste bad but uncooked nettle leaves don't have a very interesting flavour either.) Dandelions - it's an exceptionally good year for dandelions where I live. Masses of them. Beautiful! So wonderfully cheerful! Lucy
ReplyDeleteYes we have these weeds here! Especially that sticky one! I like dandelion...and your photo has raised it to beautiful flower status! They do look ratty after the seeds have been dispersed!
ReplyDeleteWhat a cracking blog - I love the pictures! A bit like Clay Perry's only without the "marmelade across the lens" effect. My favourite is the nettle, I've tried to take exactly that picture before but hadn't a clue how to do it.
ReplyDeleteEmily, thank you. I wasn't aware of Clay's work I have just had a look. My favourite flower photos are by Robert Mapplethorpe, not someone you would expect! I used a 105mm Macro lens to take the nettle, it was setup on a photographic table which allows you to control the lighting and stops drafts causing movement. I am planning to document as many flowers as possible this year.
ReplyDeleteI love the Dandelions too! Never heard of Stinging nettle but it sounds interesting and looks so too! Most of the weeds that used to be a nuisance here have suddenly gone out of sight, what with the deforestations and cementing the roads! Dang these Road and Transport officials!
ReplyDeleteI hope mentioning you on today's LOOSE AND LEAFY is ok, Gary. (27th April) By the way, one of the things I was doing wrong with the camera was that I thought I was scrolling down a menu when it was working like a 'page down' - so I was only coming across one out of every three or four options! Also - I would have taken ages before trying 'vivid' if you hadn't recommended it because, to me, 'vivid' suggests 'garish' - but it isn't, in the least. The description says something like 'more natural colours' . . . and that's right . . . except . . . wouldn't you have thought 'natural' would have been the default setting?! Ah well, I'll get there (I hope!). Lucy
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