Saturday, 22 July 2023

Old-Fashioned Friends

A quiet morning along the River Ouse near Paxton and my attention turned to old friends. My walks are sometimes interrupted by wild orchids or other rarities, the celebrities of the plant world, but now let us honour the faithful everyday flowers, the kind that turn up every year and never let you down.



So here they are, gathered together just as in real life, between the flooded gravel pits and the river itself. For some reason it feels right in this context to give them their old-fashioned country names....



Gatekeeper butterfly / Jingling Johnny / Bedflower
Small White butterfly on a Pincushion Flower / Granny's Toenails / Hardheads
Flower of the Dead / Holy Rope / Meadow Queen
Clown's Heal-all / Staggerwort / Codlins and Cream
Tares / Policeman's Helmet / Adderwort
Ranting Widow / Hagtapers / Dashels (and a Red-Tailed Bumblebee)



Take care.


30 comments:

  1. These names are like from fairy tales. Really cute sounding ones. The nature you see are so exquisite.

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  2. Hi John - just lovely and so appropriate - I have a prompt this coming week about friends (local group) - so I'll refer to your thoughts here ... thank you. Brilliant it's always lovely to see plants I've known since I was a kid ... for some reason - always an interest, even after living overseas. Cheers Hilary

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  3. I do love your friends. And their names. Thank you.

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  4. The names are very picturesque, as colloquial names often are. I always appreciate scientific name for clarity, but it would bea great shame if these whimsical epithets were lost.

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  5. Hag Tapers, I knew it was mullien, so I looked it up in Grigson, it also has the name - cuddy lugs, which refers to donkey ears, the leaves being large and soft as a donkey's ears. "The whole toppe with it's pleasant yellow floures sheweth like to a wax candle or taper cunningly wrought" 1578. The devil comes into it as well.

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  6. Love the names, so much prettier than vetch…

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  7. I've never heard of any of those, John! But I sure do enjoy your photos of them.

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  8. You stopped to visit a lot of flowers.

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  9. You have such beautiful old-fashioned friends.

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  10. Thankyou for taking us on a walk through the flowers. Too many local names are disappearing

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  11. What a nice collection of lovely wildflowers!

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  12. Nice friends you have, they look beautiful.

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  13. Lovely to see but I don't know any of the names.

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  14. Lots of purples and pinks. Gorgeous.

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  15. Granny;s toenails??Lady's fingers please.

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  16. The old-fashioned country names are wonderful, and it's lovely of you to share them.
    Have a pleasant weekend.

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  17. Ante tanta belleza hay que detenerse y sacar fotografías, para llevarlas al ordenador de la casa.
    Un abrazo

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  18. These names are great! The only one I had heard before was hags taper, for Great Mullein. Such bright colors too. Great photos, John.

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  19. John, some of the plants, your old friends, seemed similar to ones I have seen either here in NH, NJ, VA or on our travels. But, when I read the old fashioned names I knew I would not have identified them correctly. You captured some lovely blooms to share.

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  20. Sigh. Oh how I needed to see this beauty.

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  21. Old fashioned and faithful they may be, but new and joyous for me.

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  22. It's good to seek out old friends, I love their names:)

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  23. What delightful friends you have. I recognise most of them but didn't know their old-fashioned names.

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  24. What a wonderful array of flowers with wonderful names.

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  25. Beautiful!!A summer garden:)))

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  26. Wonderful walking! I love the names of the flowers.

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