Phew, it's been a long day!
I'm looking after my Mom's zoo for the weekend and to make up for her not being there I took Bo the dog out for a few miles walk across the forest. We don't often go this time of year because the grockle population increases dramatically this time of year, especially on the weekends. Don't get me wrong, the tourists are great but peaceful, they ain't.
There are a number of plant populations reputedly in the forest that I'm always on the look out for but you do have to go off the beaten track to find them. Today, the area I went to is acid peat bog, first off I came across 4 different crucifers, all very tiny (the area is heavily grazed) and none I could bring to mind or find in my books, a tiny, bright yellow Potentilla and some Veronica species were flowering all over the heath too. I also spotted some white blobs just off a cattle track and went to inspect. Glad of my boots, I was careful not to fall in the boggy ground (it wouldn't be the first time, if I had). The white blobs turned out to be a young Eriophorum gracile - Slender Cotton Grass, as I turned to go I spotted some bright red threads on the ground, turned out to be a colony I had been looking for, of Drosera rotundifolia - Round leaved Sundew and there I was standing on top of them! LOL. Next to that was another little treasure, a Polygala vulgaris - Milkwort, all alone and paley loitering. Add to that a bundle of different lichens, club mosses, the quite common but interesting none the less, parasticic plant Lathraea and a bundle of Foxgloves as well as the different heaths.
The foals are about 6 weeks old or so and were playing near to their mums. Bo always wants to say hello but I think he's had enough ponies kick him in the ribs to go too close these days. As we walked back to the car it started to drizzle, the campsites had woken up and were in full yell. The plants I found today were treasures but the biggest treasure of all is living in an area of such outstanding beauty and plentiful wildlife.
Treasure
What a day Baa! You really are lucky to live where you do, though i imagine the crowds probably get a bit much at times. Spect you know where to go to be free of them when you want though.
What riches you discovered today! Isn't life great when you find these rare things :)
Baa, I started potentilla from seed this spring, and the leaves look very much like an alpine strawberry leaf at this stage. I purchased seed for the yellow, rose, and white. The yellow germinated best. The online catalog listed them as potentilla recta and nepalensis. They are still in cell packs, but their habit already seems to be ground cover. Do you have any info on these?
Just avoid repens Weez, it's all over my front garden :(
Oppps forgot I wrote this
Philomel, there are no secret, out of the way places in the summer LOL.
WZ
I agree with Philomel p. recta can be a pain although how it will behave in your climate is anyones guess! It is a ground cover, growing about 2ft high. P nepalensis (Miss Willmott or the type species?) was very well behaved for us it formed a little clump about 2ft wide and the flower stalks could reach close to 3ft well above the foliage. Both should be perfectly hardy for you, recta being found in Russia and nepalensis in well in Nepal LOL.
i was referring to reptans Baa (was wrong with repens) All i know is it's true to its name and boy does it CREEP!!
Ahhh P reptans was the little Potentilla I found in the forest the other day. Yes you're right that is an invasive little so and so.
I've checked the potentilla on Googles, but I can't seem to match the leaf with recta. Maybe the leaf changes as it matures. I'll do a bit more research and take a picture to post. As you say, it may not be too invasive here, but one never knows until one is invaded.
Yes, that's the way of the sneaky little varmints WZ. But there're a lot of very beautiful and very well mannered potentillas, so i really shouldn't let this one little £*&^%$* jaundice my view of the family.
Today I was weeding the strawberry bed and cussing at the weeds that look so much like the strawberries... it occurred to me that they may very well be a form of our local potentilla. I'll have to look it up. It would be very funny if it's the same thing I started from seed and transpanted so painstakingly!
Oh Oh. I planted several potentillas in my flower beds earlier this spring.
Oh dear, sounds likely Weez :(
Should think you're safe Northerner, if they were bought ones.
I'm going to work on this potentilla quandry, but if all else fails, I'll just wait until the little buggers get some size and start blooming.