Our Disappearing Flora.

i absolutely agree, Blodyn. First - thanks for the lovely photos. I enjoyed looking at them and 'walking' with you in that lovely area. I have been quite upset at the local farmers recently. When I walk Henry I take different routes and paths. One in particular had the most beautiful wild orchids growing on a bank at the side of the path. I didn't have my camera with me (of course!) but decided to do the same walk a few days later, plus camera. I couldn't believe that the land-owner had slashed all the grass at the side and of course, with it, went those orchids. There won't be any next year from seed now, will there? Tragic or what?

brilliant blog blodyn , great pics.
i love wildflowers , grown in my garden or in the fields , they are a joy to see and it is a awful same that so many are disappearing.
omg spritz , thats terrible, farmer prob just doing his work but again its a shame that they wont be there next yr for you to enjoy

Iv just learnt 2 wildflower names from this great Blog Blodyn thanx,Im sad 2 learn that many Wild Plants have gone from your childhood days :( im doing my best in my Wild Garden Area 2 keep it as Natural as possible & Intreduce Wild Natives of the UK Island:)

Wonderful blog Blodyn... Through your photos I felt like I walked around the grounds at the shurch. Yes Barbara it is tragic. There are many people out there who don't have the love for wild flowers as many of us do.

Thanks for all your comments.
It's the same here Spritzhenry. And also the area the blog is about aswell. I think it's the council. They just cut everything away, and they use some machine that slashes through the branches leaving them all with chewed-up ends and looking terrible.
I'm going to have a wild patch in my garden when it's sorted out, like Irish and Jacque. I thought I'd try and grow some of those plants that have disappeared.
Mike I'm glad you enjoyed the walk : )
And I'm happy to know you all enjoyed the pics.

I can totally understand your feelings about the disappearing flora. I get so frustrated sometimes with the stupid approach so many developers and local governments take. Their idea is to bulldoze the whole property and put in sod or grass seed. I had to practically stand in front of the bulldozer when we bought this property, and force them to leave at least SOME of the trees and wild growth. AND local govt's idea of wildflowers is to seed a 100 ft stretch along a road with a commercially available flower mix! It's enough to enrage the pope!!!

Excellenr blog Blodyn. I loved all the views and flowers. I agree with all the comments. I hate to see those machines slashing the hedges and trees unmercifully too. They do it here in Hungary as well.

Hello Blodyn, Excellent blog, I enjoyed it very much. Thanks for putting all those lovely pictures here for us to enjoy. I would have loved to have walked along with you. What a beautiful country side. Now, perhaps you could collect seeds from the wildflowers there are, and after slashing if that is the cause, then spread them around, so they'll be there next year. You know, farmers are legally obliged to keep the edges of the banks clear. After all these belong to the draining system of the land. If there weren't creeks and ditches the country would soon be flooded after rains. The water has to flow somewhere! But I do agree everywhere else it should be kept natural. I know that your complaint is not uncommon. I have heard friends in Holland complaining all the blue cornflowers have disappeard, due to farmers spraying. That is sad, but in this competetive world and a world of ever increasing hunger, it is very important to produce good quality and a good qantity of wheat. I still hear of the cornflowers and red poppies growing along country roadsides. And you know, some seeds can be dormant for ages, then suddenly pop up again. Perhaps all is not lost after all.
Chrispook here too the council mows the verges and keeps trimming the trees. I don't really hate it: it makes for safer motoring, you have better vision, and less chances the treetops hit the electricity wires, nor hang over the road and fall unexpectedly, causing problems. It all has to do with our modern world. The times of horse and cart and candle lights are over! LOL.

Lovely blog,Blodyn. I see some of those wild flowers around the farmland where I live but I'm not very good with knowing what they are! Now I do...thank you!

There are some high notes in the cultivation of wildflowers. One of them here in the US is Texas. During the 1950's the then govener(sp) of Texas, later to be Pres LB Johnson's wife "Ladybird" implemented a plan of collection and distribution of native wildflowers along highways and farm to market roads in Texas. They also pay farmers to grow these plants and collect seed so that roads and byways can be reseeded as needed. Now in Texas you can see fabulous fields covered in native flowers like the Texas BlueBonnet and the Indian Paintbrush. Thousands of dollars are saved because these plants control soil erosion and it is not nec. to mow as often and they also bring in tourist dollars. The program is a huge success and many other states have tried to copy it, but don't go with as much seeding or try to avoid the initial collection by buying seeds commercially and the plants don't survive as well. Anyway, my point is that with the correct programs both the govt and individuals can have what they want and still have all the native plants and wildflowers, but it takes great efforts from everyone.

I love wildflowers - one of my favorite flowers in Houston flowers in the early Spring in delicate tones of pink and white - but it grows in the cracks of the sidewalks, by the side of the road, in the ditches...I haven't seen it in house gardens - but i always have the wish to just dig one up and take it hone - haven't done it yet though - yet this plants looks like a weed - and for the most part is treated like that. But there are also patches of wildflowers in the medians of the roads - and I always think of Ladybird Johnson, and how everyone made fun of her at first for wanting to save the wildflowers...and look at the program now!

The pics are great, Blodyn, it looks so historic, and beautiful tho very different from what I know...I don't think Texas has that kind of historic buildings (that old I mean) or forests - and of course in ES we're not much for conservation of anything - Imagine the New Forest having been planted 'hundreds' of years ago! And that's the 'new' forest! I like that sense of history. Don't laugh but if I ever went to the UK what I would most love to see would be Stonehenge and the Lake District.

Raquel,
If you ever get a chance to visit the UK, I am sure you will love it.
All our UK friends will laugh but the one thing I remember being the most impressed with when we were there was how OLD everything was. It seems strange to most Brits, but here, if it's 100 years old, it is old!
I don't know if they still do it but years ago the seed farms for Ladybird's plan use to be open to the public. There were a lot of them north and northeast of Houston. That was really a sight.
Probably the oldest buildings in Texas are the missions near San Antonio. Some of them are from the late 1600's

If you ever visite the UK Raquel don't forget to visit some places in Wales Scotland and Ireland aswell as England : )

Never made it to Ireland unfortunately, but I loved Scotland. I think my favorite place of all was Dover! Well there is no accounting for taste!!

Brilliant pictures, lovely views and plants :-)

Absolutely a superb blog Blodyn. And I agree, it is such a shame our beautiful wild flowers are dissappering. When I was a boy all the family used to go for a walk on a Sunday Afternoon After our Sunday roast. There are hundreds of wild flowers dissappearing, I used to like Cowslips, Campion, Cows Parsley, & many, many More. - Such a Shame!!
Great Pictures by the Way. Well done!

Thanks for this wonderful Blog and the beautiful photos of nature doing its superb job. Its sad that a lot of our wild flowers are disappearing, but there is also some positive work going on in the background as well to revert to organic farming and the need to protect our countryside as well. Lets hope the positive message continues to spread and farmers pick up the messages. In a sense we are all to blame because we want cheap and plentiful supplies of food and intensive farming methods are used to meet the demand which means that wildlife and natural fauna are being damaged and lost.

You won't believe it Blodyn but I used to think that there was no difference between England, Scotland, and Wales!! To me "English" meant anyone from anywhere in the UK. I now know better!!, and yes, if I ever go to the UK I'd love to visit other places..Edinburgh, maybe...I don't know anything about Wales (other that Prince Charles is the 'Prince of Wales' !) but I would love to see the cliffs where the bluestones come from (I've heard they're in Wales). =)

Wohlibuli, I didn't know about the farms, but will see if they're still around..would be interetsing to see...I tried to see the missions in San Antonio, but ran out of time...but the cathedralis gorgeous! And so Spanish in style it reminded me of ES. Definitely have to go back!

Everybody has already said everything about this wonderful "blog". Just adding our "hear, hear!"
Think it's nice (oh! how very English!) that there are Irish, Welsh, Scots and Cornish (have I missed anyone out?) in this Island Race.

Your pictures of the country side and interesting places to visit is one of the reasons I'm enjoying this web site so much; I get a never ending "tour"of places in the world I have never been. Keep of the good work. I'll be looking for more and more and more.....

the veiws are lovely it would have been somewhere i would have liked to have walked but cant walk to far now so the photos ar appreciated thankyou

Thanks Boxer. I'm glad you like the views. You don't have to walk to see them. You can do so while driving along.

just back from isle of wight hywel some lovely veiws whilst driving some of the plants there still in full bloom,

I've only been to the Isle of Wight once. It's a lovely island. Hope you had a nice time.

Raquel, I smiled when you mentioned that about anything over 100 years being 'old' My cottage is well over 400years. I guess where you are you would be living in a wig-wam in those days. I so agree about the missing wild flowers, they're every bit as nice as cultivated ones. One of the first things I did when I got a computer was to take pics of wild flowers and make a document/folder with as many as I could see along with details obtained from the web. If Vaughn Williams or Sir Edward Elgar were to be alive today, I wonder if they could have been so inspired by our present day countryside. I am a staunch fan of America but sadly haven't been there since the sixties when I toured the North East Seaboard with my local Pen-friend. I'm ashamed to say that England is so obsessed by Europe that it has turned it's back on America, Canada and Australia, a big mistake in my opinion.

Excelent Blog Blodyn, I know North Wales quite well as I live near the border, can't place Llangiwg though. Today, 17th of October 2009, I walked around Llyn Crafnant near Llanwrst, a favourite of mine.

Thanks.
Llangiwg is about 10 miles from Swansea - on the South coast. I don't know the north well. I went there many years ago, but I'm not familiar with it at all.

By the way you can call me Hywel like it sais on my little photo. Blodyn is my cat.