Get your garden out

[foxfish]

I used a water based brown to paint the ply (fence panel stain) and then, once dry, I used silver and black tester pots from B&Q .
I just twisted the brush in a circular motion in alternative colours, let it dry and did it again.
To get the rust effect, I used a water based varnish and painted the edges before sprinkling cinnamon power on to the wet varnish.
Load of drawing pins around the edge, I had to drill every hole as the pins would not push into the ply.
I might try a little bit of green paint around the pinheads......

 

[foxfish]

Here is one for you @dw1305 this stuff is appearing in various locations, Jersey and Guernsey, it grows on Gorse.

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

this stuff is appearing in various locations, Jersey and Guernsey, it grows on Gorse.

It is another parasitic plant, it is <"Lesser Dodder" (Cuscuta epithymum)>.

I saw it at Studland last year before that I hadn't seen it for ~10 years, it isn't a common plant now in mainland UK.

cheers Darrel

 

[foxfish]

Correct (of course) it’s going mad this year!

 

[foxfish]

Another picture

 

[foxfish]

Quiz for Darrel ... what is this one?

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

what is this one?

That is an easy one, the "Jersey Orchid". It has changed its name, so it is now Anacamptis laxiflora.

cheers Darrel

 

[foxfish]

Ha Ha .. well done and full marks for the Latin name but we call it the Guernsey orchid!
I went on a guided walk through ( well around the perimeter) our wonderful organic orchid fields last week.
http://www.societe.org.gg/reserves/les_vicheries/

 

[foxfish]

Orchid city on the common and just a few hundreds yards from my house.

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

Orchid city on the common and just a few hundreds yards from my house.

Brilliant.

I can't tell if the paler ones are Common Spotted (Dactylorhiza fuchsii) or Heath Spotted (D. maculata), "Common Spotted" would be my guess, but you would need to be able to see the shape of the lip of the labellum.

The darker pink Orchid is Southern Marsh Orchid (D. praetermissa) and the bigger intermediate orchid is the hybrid between one of the spotted Orchids and the "Southern Marsh", again a guess but most likely <"D. x grandis">.

cheers Darrel

 

[foxfish]

I have never seen so many in that area but I hope it is a good sign as the same spot has been fantastic for gathering parasol mushroom in the past but, not in recent years!

I will try and find out what the orchids are called or failing that I will get some closeup shots.

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

failing that I will get some closeup shots.

You just need to be able to see the lip of the flower, they all look pretty similar, but the lip is a different shape dependent upon species.

cheers Darrel

 

[foxfish]

I do have a few more pictures from yesterday, the area is called the devils foot due to an unusual indentation in a large granite rock!
How about a few coastal plants to identify?
What is the island on the horizon?

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

How about a few coastal plants to identify?

• Photo 2. is Rock Samphire (Crithmum maritimum)
• Photo 3. Plantago coronopus, Sedum anglicum on the rock (lichen is Ramalina siliquosa), the plant in the crack looks like Daucus carota. Plants in the back-ground are Armeria maritima, Beta vulgaris, Dactylis glomerata and Sonchus asper.
• Photo. 4 is Lotus corniculatus, Armeria again, with D. carota and Festuca rubra.
• Photo 5. Heracleum sphondylium with D. glomerata, Lolium perenne, Poa sp. (probably P. annua) and B. hordaceus.
• Photo 6, 7 & 8. Now this one looks quite interesting, the tall orchid is a hybrid, but looks likely to be <"D. x hallii"> (D. maculata x D. praetermissa).The smaller, paler orchid is <"D. maculata">. Other plants are Pteridium aquilinum, Rhinanthus minor, Lychnis flos-cuculi, Holcus lanatus, Anthoxanthum odoratum, Cirsium arvensis, Plantago lanceolata, Juncus conglomeratus, Luzula multflora, Anagallis tenella, Rubus fruticosus, Potentilla erecta & Rumex ?crispus.
• Photo 9. is Picris echioides with Silene dioica & Galium aparine (and the "weedy" plants from earlier in the thread)

What is the island on the horizon?

It looks quite a large island (and distant) so I'm guessing Jersey?

cheers Darrel

 

[foxfish]

I can see I will have lift the bar!
Not Jersey though.

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

Not Jersey though.

But I'm a botanist not a geographer, it is looking north towards Alderney?

cheers Darrel

 

[foxfish]

Yes it is a bleak Alderney!
About 20 miles away to the North.

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

I have never seen so many in that area

I think 2018's good summer might have led to more flowering.

This is an unexpected Bee Orchid in an unexpected place (in the lawn outside the lab). Years ago this used to be a quiet scruffy area with species rich grass, but about 15 years ago the University decided it would look much better as a stripy lawn with topiary, an ornamental gate and (more recently) some <"interesting" planters">.

The sticks were to protect it from the mower (for the last six weeks, we suffer from "turf fundamentalist" grounds management).



cheers Darrel

 

[zozo]

Small things you can find in the garden.. 🙂 I found this in an neglected pot in a shaded spot that once contained a Asplenium trichomanes fern, the fern is long dead..

Now its growing a new fern, yet no idea which one it is.. 🙂


But what actualy caught my eye is the Marchantia polymorpha Moss sporecaps.. Our common name for it is Umbrella Moss.. Why seems obvious..




I'm yet never tried my self, another interesting thing is, this liverwort seems to like to grow aqautic too. And it is relatively drouth resistant.. A moss that can take a beating.. With quite a variety of different growforms.. Hence there for the name Polymorpha?..

 

[Edvet]

First time i see it blooming: Catalpa bignonioides ( not to be mistaken with catappa leaves😀)