delightful Ditches

 Was it the late Spring, but I don't think I have ever seen such an array of wild flowers adorning our ditches.Ditches to the uninitiated are banks of earth of varying heights which divide our fields. They are usually topped with bushes and trees and grass and weeds grow up the sides which are cut by the council or at least supposed to be cut by them. They cannot cut them at certain times of the year because of birds nesting, maybe because of the recession and staff cutbacks they just have not cut back the undergrowth as they should and all of these wonderful wild flowers are springing up to brighten our journeys.
 Someone said that a weed is a flower in the wrong place and that is certainly true this year. The Bluebells were spectacular this year and the one flower I did not get a pic of were the banks of wild garlic, it would have meant stopping at the side of the road and may not have been the wisest thing to do.
 Bluebells and creeping buttercup, nature has contrasted  those colours in a stunning picture.
More Bluebells, this time with a small white flower which I don't know the name of, it looks a little like Aubretia but again it grows wild?
Today's pic are my first Foxglove this year!They will probably engulf the countryside shortly but these first ones are wonderful!
Cow parsley so beloved of the show gardens and stands in Chelsea growing wild around the Phoenix Park at the back of Bloom! There are drifts of it growing wild this year in fields and ditches, I have never seen so much of it. It was especially striking around Laois & Kilkenny last weekend growing in profusion in the ditches along the roadway, again it would not have been a wise move to stop and alight to take a photo!
I have seen fields covered in white clover and buttercups, daisies, not the small field ones but the larger ones which are usually on motorways are growing all over the place, so keep your eyes open as you drive or walk around the countryside!

Comments

PeggyR said…
Those are lovely!
Betty said…
I love that saying about a weed is just a flower. I will have to remember that one. The wildflowers are so pretty. I have to plant some foxgloves next year, ours did not come up this year. I love your header.
Caz said…
Lovely photos! The mixture of colours are beautiful :-) I'm just home from Mayo, every field on the way home had an abundance of butttercups!
Peggy said…
Peggy R.
Thanks Peggy!
Peggy said…
Betty, its a well known saying in gardening circles, even since I wrote that post Foxgloves are popping up everywhere. it is really going to be a sensational year for wild flowers!
Peggy said…
Caz,out in the countryside its really beautiful,I photographed those on the edges of the city!
We were over in eastern Washington this past weekend, and the wildflowers were abundant, the best I have seen for years, probably due to the very wet spring we have had.
Dee Sewell said…
Yes, why is it?! We've been wondering the same. First the dandelions then the bluebells, buttercups and trees bursting with blossom and hedgerows full of lacy cow parsley and vetch. Why this beautiful show, I'm intrigued?!
Rylahn said…
Bluebells are an important early food flower for bees, hoverflies and butterflies which feed on nectar.
Peggy said…
KeeWee, hi good to 'see' you! its seems to be a global phenomenon, all the wild flowers in such abundance this year.

Peggy said…
Dee, I clicked into your name as you are a new comment, I spent ages reading your blog which is so educational and entertaining.I am adding your blog to my bloglist as there are lots of things I want to go back to reread when the time comes.Maybe it was the wet spring added to last years wet... well...year!
Peggy said…
Rylahn, thanks for stopping by and taking the time to leave a comment. I love to see the early bees crawling into the bluebell flower.
Peggy said…
Rylahn, thanks for stopping by and taking the time to leave a comment. I love to see the early bees crawling into the bluebell flower.

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