My visit to the meadow brought many joys & as you will see many photos! These have given me the opportunity to savour once more the beauty of wild flowers & hopefully learn a little more about them, indeed set me on a trail of discovery.

This seed head may look very familiar – at first it appears to be a giant dandelion. Look again & you’ll see the shape is similar but it’s not a dandelion. It is however from the same family and has the lovely common name of Jack-go-to-bed-at-noon! It’s also known as Goat’s Beard.

Just to the left there’s another pod ready to unfold. I could simply stand & observe the beauty of this plant – it is so perfect, a real intrigue of nature. Each plant so different with ingenious ways of dispersing seeds to ensure more flowers will grow in the future. I’ve been fortunate to find a good array of wild flowers & with the benefit of a zoom lens take photos. Drawing & sketching may be fun, but far more time consuming. Also if a flower wasn’t close by the path the camera can bring it closer & hopefully, nicely into focus!

Away from the meadow, now to  another plant that is setting seed. I couldn’t resist sharing this quirky plant. The brown tufts  look unusual & feel much the same. I guess the green pods belong to this plant & it is setting seed. It remains a mystery to me. But having found the seed head above to me there are similarities. The brown top in the next image was coarse, but the pods bear a striking resemblance. Roses grow here & dotted around  are several flower pods, so this is not a wild flower, but it is interesting to see the relationship between wild & garden.

Would I grow it in my borders alongside roses as pictured here? No, it wouldn’t be my ideal choice! But there is something about this oddity, a strange charm. It was a plant that I returned to, wanted to learn about. Roses were easy to identify, but this one presents a challenge.

I visited the garden at a weekend, so the Head Gardener wasn’t working. Pity. I tried finding more from information sheets dotted around the grounds, but again there was nothing. Perhaps I shall save this mystery to investigate in the winter months – challenge myself to set time aside to learn more about plants – not just my favourites!