1st April 2009 (Wednesday)
Due to other commitments I didn't have a whole lot of spare time today, but with it being a fine, warmish (if overcast) morning I was determined to get out and about at least for a bit! In the end I settled on a return visit to Arnos Vale Cemetery, not too far from Bristol city centre and the main Temple Meads railway station; this very old cemetery's become largely disused (although some kind of trust has been formed to tidy it up a bit and restore access to the graves), so I was hoping to come across a few naturalised goodies!
By far the most noticeable plant was the
Primrose (
Primula vulgaris) - they were literally everywhere, I've never seen so many Primroses in one place even around the country lanes of Devon & Cornwall! Just the one
Cowslip (
Primula veris) was also in flower and, as you'd expect for a cemetery, I came across a few naturalised
Polyanthuses (
P. x polyantha) in a kind of reddish-pink!
Also extremely well established here, more so than I've ever seen elsewhere, are
Spotted-laurel (
Aucuba japonica),
Wilson's Honeysuckle (
Lonicera nitida) &
Japanese Spindle (
Euonymus japonica) - they've pretty much taken over, and now form the majority of the shrub layer between them! The wild form of
A. japonica looks quite different from the ones you see in parks & gardens, less variegation on the leaves for starters, and just to prove its' naturalised status some even had flowers!
(
Spotted-laurel in flower)
Bulbs also featured strongly, with the highlight being a colony of
Summer Snowflake (
Leucojum aestivum); a plant I'd so far missed this spring and that was hence on my most-wanted list! Quite a few clumps of
Garden Tulips (
Tulipa gesneriana) were also dotted around, plus the ubiquitous daffodils (
Narcissus sp.), although disappointingly I couldn't find any different species or hybrids amongst the latter.
(
Summer Snowflake, Leucojum aestivum)
(
Garden Tulips, Tulipa gesneriana)
The reason I love exploring places like this is that around every corner you just never know what you're going to find - a point proved when a small track through the brambles turned up a fine
Stinking Hellebore (
Helleborus foetidus) (though I really wish someone would come up with a better name for it...!!), a colony of
Hidcote Comfrey (
Symphytum "Hidcote Blue") & a non-flowering patch of
Garden Mossy-saxifrage (
Saxifraga x arendse) covering a gravestone.
Despite all the daffodils, tulips, grape-hyacinths and suchlike, probably the brightest colour of the morning was provided by the speedwells!
Slender Speedwell (
Veronica filiformis) formed a beautiful patch in a couple of places, and I was pleased to come across some
Creeping Speedwell (
Veronica peduncularis) just a few days after I'd found the species for the first time - these ones were more convincingly naturalised, rather than garden chuck-outs!
(
Slender Speedwell, Veronica filiformis)
And, lastly, was a spurge of the type we just don't get native in this country -
Mediterranean Spurge (
Euphorbia characias), a fine sight in all its' glory!
(
Mediterranean Spurge, Euphorbia characias)
All in all a decent start to April; three new species for the photo database (Summer Snowflake, Garden Mossy-saxifrage and Garden Peony, also in leaf only...)
