Super Spring

What a fantastic wild flower extravaganza this year! I guess the dry winter and cold spring held things back and now everything is coming at once. I have been photographing wild flowers for 40 years, but never have I seen such sheets of anemones, primrose and cowslips. How is it where you live?

Cowslips

 

Today i found my first angelica starting to form..this one is in my front garden where its really warm up a south fence..so its arrived early..the flowers here in the midlands are really late ..and i havnt got much in flower at all..I thought i had lost my gunnera but yesterday noticed a wrinkled leaf appearing so i was really happy..

 

What a lovely clear pic. WF
Camera and photographer seem ok to me,
It looks good enough to eat or do you infuse it?

 

roders ..I dont use my angelica i just admire it and let it seed everywhere..but i shall collect some seed if anyone wants any let me know..i have it every where ..will have to remove the seed heads off the front garden or else the whole street will be over run with angelica..because it really is invasive..one thing this site has taught me is to grow some flowers that flower in the spring as i hardly have anything in flower just honesty..and sweet cicily..and thats it..i normally wait for my medicine herbs to bloom so i can use them..but it is nice to see something early on..oh i have the odd wallflower how they got here i dont know..

 

Wildflower, is this angelica?
I took this pic a couple of weeks ago on the cliffs above Dover docks, the whole area is covered in it, it spreads like crazy.

 

Pete, it looks like it... Mine will have to be moved,it's too big. It was so warm today it was wilting. The valerian is underneath it! It's as tall as me now.

 

liz dont move it..as it hates being moved..i moved one and it died fast..you will get seed soon then you can plant it where ever you want it..petes photo looks like angelica but it could be the wild angelica..pete if you see this did it have purplish hollow stems?..angelica comes under the carrot family..and it also includes the giant hogweed and they look very similar..I would love to see a giant hogweed..their was one on the television last year and i was fascinated...everyone was panicking trying to get rid of it..and their was me drooling...i think i must like the giant plants..

 

Pete - your plant is more likely to be Alexanders (Smyrnium olusatrum) This is mainly confined to coastal regions, though with warmer winters it is now found at more inland sites. Introduced by the Romans as a pot herb, it now thrives on cliffs and hedge banks particularly near the sea.

 

you are probably right hornbeam as the leaves are the same..its a lovely photo you have put on here..i havnt seen that plant before..its really nice..i will want one now to add to my collection..

 

OK, thanks both of you, I'll look that up.

 

Alexanders is also known as Black Lovage and doesn't grow as tall as angelica.

 

Thanks hornbeam i will look out for some..I am a lot better with the common names so you have helped me their..

 

If anyone want any seed, I'm bound to go back around late summer.

 

The fruit will be black when ripe - hence the old name of Black Lovage