garden withoutdoors

Two marshy areas along the Thames, Swanscombe I went to in May 2022 and Rainham in September 2022. (The Swanscombe photos are after the Rainham photos.)

End of September 2022, we went to look at birds but it was too windy. The walk along the sea wall was great. Swanscombe Marshes is across the Thames (to the right).

Dartford Crossing in the distance

closer view of that sea mayweed

closer view of the leaves

it's late in the season, the flowers are spent (sea aster, I think)

another sea aster, I think

lots of sea beet

although it's not red in the centre as those above, I'm pretty sure this is sea beet as well

and lots of perennial wall rocket

mallow

field bindweed

bristly oxtongue

chicory

dandelion rosette

hoary ragwort, not something I see very often and this is well past its best

a magnificent rosette, I'm thinking Eastern rocket but I hope to go back and see how it develops

quite fuzzy in the centre like other eastern rockets I've seen

verbascum

hoary mustard rosette

verbena, flowers just coming to an end

masses of narrow-leaved ragwort

mugwort

creeping cinquefoil

Swanscombe Marshes mid-May 2022

Crosswort, not seen this before (excuse the poor photos, the bright sun did not help)

I usually see Crepis vesicaria starting as a basal rosette close to the ground but at Swanscombe there were lots of small plants with those lobed leaves upright rather than low to the ground.

there were also some fasciated Crepis vesicaria

hoary cress

young hoary cress plant

I saw lots of sea beet, both near the shore and inland where it seemed very dry so at first I wasn't sure what it was.

this one was closer to the shore

annual wall rocket

second trip to Rainham Marshes end of October 2022

lots of possibly shepherd's purse rosettes, hope to go back and check them and confirm identification

and these two which may be shepherds purse but I'm not as sure as those above

there were also rosettes that looked rather Crepis vesicaria-like although I've not seen them at this time of year, again, hoping to go back and see how they've developed

close-up of the centre of the rosette above

then some rosettes that looked like hedge mustard

and this one I have marked as "unknown", I'm really not sure

centre detail close-up of the rosette above

I think this must be a dandelion [

a return trip to Rainham Marshes 29-11-2022

I wanted to see if some plants were any more identifiable. I took this photo to pinpoint where some of them were as I had difficulty finding them again.

uncertain rosettes

the next two are a bit different from those above

lots of bristly oxtongue at Rainham Marshes

white campion

wondering if this is stonecrop

dry skeleton stems of hoary mustard

hawkweed oxtongue

hoary mustard rosettes

ribwort plantain

narrow-leaved ragwort

creeping thistle

I think this is charlock (Sinapis arvensis)

 

There were a number of rosettes I suspected were shepherd's purse, first saw in September, then October, then November. It seems too cold for them to bloom and maybe they'll be dormant until spring?

My Oxalis triangularis has done amazingly well this year. This pot has given this plant plenty of room and I divided some which are doing well in small pots and blooming.

Agastache anisata

nipplewort

wall lettuce

snapdragon seedling

green alkanet seedling

green alkanet small plant

hogweed

foxglove drought-stunted flower

 

Japanese anemone

nipplewort

shoofly buds

bee inside shoofly flower

closer view of that bee in a shoofly flower

the plants have responded amazingly well to a bit of rain

greater knapweed

greater knapweed showing the lower leaves

evening primrose, I was thinking of putting this with my pavement plants as it's growing in a crack but it's paving on my patio so not the usual pavement plant, I fear if I try to pull it up I'd destroy it so I'll see how far it can get like this

a flowering stem shot up from this verbascaum rosette and has bloomed

some new growth on the purple loosestrife and some fresh flowers which the bees are loving

new scabious flower

cornflower Blue Carpet

verbascum with multiple flowering stems

I suddenly noticed an entire comfrey plant yesterday with lots of buds

greater celandine was brown and dead and now has some fresh green growth

huge teasel leaves on the left, new leaves growing from the base of the heleniums

the hogweed was looking quite brown and spent but now there is fresh green growth

sage looking good after being smothered by other plants

knautia macedonica rosette

pineapple sage

chicory leaves of a mature plant

the muscari were growing well in these pots but after not enough water they were wilted like the middle two but after recent water, two of the pots (top and bottom) have green growth

I love echium vulgare. So pleased to see it self-seeding from this year's plant. I hope I find others in the garden.

next to that echium vulgare is a borage

I didn't plant any shoo-fly seeds this year but I had lots sprouting from my home-made compost. I potted them up hoping for flowers. The earlier buds (on the plant behind) did not really produce flowers. The flowers seemed to wilt before they opened. My ginger cat Victor in the doorway.

those shoo-fly plants have lots of buds, hoping for decent flowers

peanut - not one I planted, I usually notice peanut shoots when they are smaller than this but the other day, I suddenly saw this peanut small plant

 

Sept 2022

I've seen lots of pavement plants so far this year but not so many in recent weeks with the drought and heatwave.

beginning of September 2022, there's been a bit of rain so some plants have grown

bristly oxtongue

I don't think I've seen pale flax as a pavement plant before. I'm impressed this one has gotten to this size and so many flowers (without Veolia / Idverde destroying it).

snapdragons, not the usual pavement plant but no doubt a garden escapee

creeping thistle, I've never seen it like this with new plants growing like this along a stem (on the right)

end of August 2022

It's been such an inhospitable environment, I've hardly been out botanising but was out looking at bollards the other day and came across a few plants, of course, some always find a way.

Oxalis corniculata

I'm not sure what these next two are

I think this is Eastern rocket, a very variable plant anyway but this one is struggling in this concrete environment

I've hardly had any passionflower flowers this year. Since the rain, this one bloomed.

chicory

veronica longifolia final flowers

teasel rosette, first year

another water lily blooming - with a hoverfly (at first I thought it was a bee but now, processing the photo, I see it's a hoverfly)

my Japanese anemones were looking terrible but after some long-awaited rain, they've revived and this one is being visited by a hoverfly (again, what I initially thought was a bee)

my milk parsley was almost dying but I've been watering its pot and the worst of the heat has abated

I love those purple stems

hoverfly on a "pink dandelion" (Crepis rubra)

I am trying to water my pots sparingly, especially those with flowers for pollinators so the "pink dandelions" (Crepis rubra) are still blooming. I'm loving these this summer - fast flowers from seed.

and some of the spent flowers

I love chicory. I grew these from seed but it's been challenging. They're biennial so it's been a long time waiting for flowers and trying to keep the slugs off them. I only have 1 plant left from about half a dozen.

some new chicory buds

my lone water lily this year, it lives in a trug after the barrel it was in collapsed; that got very low on water with the drought and heatwave and I think I topped up the water only just in time

aster in bloom, seems early, I imagine it's the heat that's brought on early blooms

Victor (and all the cats) struggling to find shade to avoid the heat

borage buds

I'm not sure what this seedling is. I think I've seen it before but can't remember.

this amaranthus has self-seeded in one of my pots, will keep an eye on it as it develops to see if I can identify it to species

the flower reminds me of some plantain species

Review of some of the wildflowers that bloomed from the wildflower seed mix I bought at Sainsbury's

I never thought of rocket as a wildflower but the mix included it

canary grass, I had seen this in a seed catalogue or somewhere and was thinking of getting some, so I was pleased to see it

annual mallow (Malva trimestris)

there was dill but it was difficult to get an in-focus photo, the resulting seedheads were easier to capture

also in the mix: poached egg plant (see earlier blog entry)

 

hollyhocks with a bee

hollyhocks with bee

Crepis rubra with hoverfly

mallow

evening primrose

my friendly fox, within a couple minutes that bowl was licked clean 

Rocky with the catnip (Nepeta cataria) I grew from seed

purple loosestrife with bee

heleniums with a bee

the bees are loving the globe thistles, they've been great as they survived the drought and heatwave with no watering

the heleniums are looking good and the bees are visiting but they're in pots so I have to water them

I had a few evening primrose that had self-seeded so put them all together in a pot (some were larger than others) and the next day one bloomed

hollyhocks blooming but they're all white and pink, I have been watering them a bit as they're newly planted out but they shouldn't need watering once they're established

bowl of water out for birds and insects but haven't seen either visiting it

Scarecrow on the right, this is in my neighbour's garden, he often goes with me if I go over to water or photograph