garden withoutdoors

Urban wild plants seem to go in waves, this year it's Chenopodiums: 

tree spinach (Chenopodium giganteum) which I've never seen before yesterday (29-7-2021)

nearby there were fat hens (Chenopodium album)

today (30-7-2021) I saw some more chenopodiums, a large fat hen

a common orache (Atriplex patula)

one I saw a couple weeks ago

a red goosefoot possibly? I'm not that familiar with this plant but this id has been suggested to me, I must go back and check it

back in my garden, one of my girls

on the other side of the garden, one of my 3 wood pigeons

Jersey tiger moth

the Little Dorrit sunflowers I grew from seed this year have been a great success although the slugs have tried to eat them all

the heleniums I bought as small plants from Peter Nyssen

roses and purple loosestrife

on the side of Sainsbury's is a small patch with lots of self-seeding urban wild plants in the cracks, occasionally pulled out and weedkiller sprayed and then they grow back

closer view

smooth sow thistle

marsh yellow-cress

fat hen

stitchwort

smooth sow thistle nearby

and a smooth sow thistle rosette nearby

my sheepsbit has been the most amazing plant this year, lots of flowers beloved by bees - and it's still going strong

the sheepsbit started as the rosette (from seeds I sowed but in another pot, somehow it ended up in this pot) sharing this pot with a centaurea dealbata back in 2020

close-up of that rosette

in March 2021, the centaurea dealbata is growing and the sheepsbit rosette is still there

close-up of that rosette

bee on sunflower

helenium

Japanese anemone coming into bloom

One of my doggy friends this morning

wider view

bee on veronica

bee on lavender

marsh mallow

I've been working long hours at my pc to finish the Plant Survey of the area by the railway line from Maiden Lane to Camley St but had to pop out to collect a parcel and found two new urban wild plants ("weeds" - if you like) - so glad I was interrupted. Marsh yellow cress round the corner which I've only seen at one other nearby location and cudweed (possibly Jersey cudweed) which I've never seen before.

Jersey cudweed

detail of buds

buddleja in bloom with my sign "pardon the weeds, they're feeding the bees" (still offering these to anyone who would like one, let me know julie@gardenwithoutdoors.org.uk)

one of the few bees I'm seeing in my garden on nepeta

and one on my sea holly

catnip flower close-up

self-heal started to bloom a few days ago

creeping yellowcress in bloom

hogweed in bloom towards the back of my garden, the "wildflower" area

bee going right into a monkshood flower

bee right inside a flower

bee on scabious

mint moth on scabious buds

viola Chicky Chicks

cosmos I grew from seed

some of my roses in bloom

sea holly

hogweed coming into bloom

salvia sclarea tukestanica, I grew these from seed, two years ago?, they first flowered last year, this is the only one I have this year, I can't remember if they're annuals or perennials   -update- yes, grew from seed in 2019 and they are supposedly perennials but only have one plant left

monarda Cambridge Scarlet, I thought bees liked these but I have never seen a bee on one, not that I have many bees, sadly

first evening primrose flower from a wildflower pack of seeds I sowed last year, most of the other wildlfowers in the pack were annuals and bloomed last year but this one didn't bloom until this year as it's a biennial - funny to include in a pack of annual wildflower seeds

greater knapweed with bee

first sunflower in bloom

first calendula in bloom

marsh mallow buds

hollyhocks round the corner self-seeded in the pavement from hollyhocks in a pot I shared there with my neighbour

monarda Cambridge Scarlet

first veronica flowers in bloom

I don't have as many Chinese lanterns as I used to. Recent drought periods have really taken their toll. I see 3 plants there this year. May be all I get. I'll have to have another look.

an unknown seedling I have, await flowers to identify

catsear, thank goodness it's survived the weedkiller

giant poppy with bee

not sure how "giant" these are but they are sold by Chiltern Seeds as Papaver somniferum Giganteum, seem only a bit bigger than my other poppies

bees are loving my verbascum

candytuft

small scabious (Scabious columbaria)

view of the entire scabious plant

close-up of one of the scabious buds

close-up of knautia buds, so similar to the scabious

opium poppy with hoverfly

centaurea dealbata

sheepsbit with bee on the left, centaurea dealbata on the right

delphinium on the table above on the right

some of my most slug-vulnerable plants on this table, delphinium and rudbeckia Green Wizard

monkshood on the left, verbascum on the right

closer views of the verbascum flowers

knautia macedonica pincushion buds

scabious on the left, knautia on the right

teasel

the enormous stem on that teasel

sunflower bud

passionflower, first in flower this year

sea holly, central flower with just a hint of blue starting

fox visitor in the garden

17-6-2021

the melancholy thistle are past their prime but some flowers still of interest to the bees

hoverfly on some unopened echium Blue Bedder buds

the bees don't seem to be visiting the fox-and-cubs yet but there are too many other flowers of interest for them in addition to the melancholy thistle: poppies, nepeta and green alkanet

first Lauren's Grape poppies, bee just below one, I guess I disturbed it off the flower while photographing

first candytuft in bloom

first echium Blue Bedder in bloom

first monkshood flower in bloom

16-6-2021

bees on the sheepsbit

left to right, fox-and-cubs, nepeta, snapdragons, poppies latest flush, scabious

My sea holly, Magical Blue Lagoon, which I bought from the garden centre last year, has survived (so many plants do not), in bud in the centre below.

sea holly (Magical Blue Lagoon) buds in the centre

bee in poppy

bee in melancholy thistle

calla lily and iris foetidissima (in the background) in bloom

delpinium in bloom, cornflower and sheepsbit in bloom below the delphinium

fringecups

scabious in bloom and knautia macedonica in bud

monkshood in bud

lavender buds below the monkshood

monarda Cambridge Scarlet in bud

lesser knapweed in bud

heleniums in bud above calendula

I have an embarrassment of riches of bees and wildflowers, bees on: poppies, cornflower, melancholy thistle, sheepsbit, fringecups and green alkanet. I am loving my garden at this time

bees on red / field / common poppy

bee on cornflower

bees on melancholy thistle

bee on sheepsbit

bees on fringecups

bee on green alkanet

bee in hollyhock

hollyhocks self-seeding in pavement cracks round the corner, after I had put a hollyhock in a pot by my neighbour's front door

I am loving my sheepsbit. I attempted to grow from seed last year but all the seedlings seem to die. One appeared in the centaurea dealbata pot although I didn't know what it was. I don't know how it got there but I feel very lucky.

the entire plant, sharing the Centaurea dealbata's pot

the pot behind (above) is a Green Wizard echinacea which was badly slug-eaten - had no leaves but since I've been picking off slugs and snails each evening, a few leaves have grown

My first two red poppies. A bee was on one yesterday but didn't get my camera in time.

a bee on a green alkanet, my bees are loving it

my bees are also loving the nepeta

I am lucky to have occasional access to the closed, walled Jewish cemetery in Brady Street, Whitechapel, East London. Sometimes it's severely mown, sometimes it's full of wildflowers. Last weekend it was full of wildflowers.

forget-me-not close-up of the flower

forget-me-not entire plant

the purple flowers are geranium molle

comfrey

smooth sow thistle with a very thick stem

bellis perennis

white deadnettle and hawkweed which has spread extensively

smooth sow thistle

cow parsley, green alkanet and bellis perennis throughout the cemetery

I am so happy to see the pink woodsorrel has grown back after being mown down

the buds are like little sticks

one bud just starting to open, the plants form a dome as all the unbranched stems grow directly from the ground

green alkanet

prickly sow thistle

buttercups

hawkweed

buttercup

spear thistle

plantain young plants before flowers surrounded by bellis perennis

geranium molle

a shrub has completely enveloped this gravestone

small nettle grows extensively in the cemetery, it's had years to spread, there's a carpet of it along the path

closer view of the small nettle

plants growing along the top of the wall, cow parsley in front of the wall

on three sides there are modern housing estates on the other side of the wall and a school on the 4th side; sadly I spend a good deal of time on every visit picking up rubbish

hawkweed growing along the top of the wall