I've been invited to go on a trek. My neighbour, Esther Montgomery, has suggested I go on a camping holiday, travelling due North through England and Scotland and coming back on the other side (more or less). There will be Esther, her husband, their two children . . . and me! You can see the route plan on her blog - here.
How can one resist? The down-side is that I won't be able to blog while we are gone and, by the time we return, the season will be turning and pictures I have been accumulating for particular posts will have become dated and irrelevant. That's the trouble with a plant blog - you can't put nature on hold!
But I don't want to abandon some of these topics so here are some pictures that were intended for a couple of urban posts.
First, plants which grow along the edge of the pavement and the drop into the water of Weymouth Harbour.
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| In the foreground is the edge of the pavement. The concrete path beyond it is a pontoon where boats moor while waiting for the bridge to lift so they can get into the inner harbour without having their masts lopped! Beyond that is the water of the harbour itself. |
It always astonishes me that plants can grow (and flower!) in such inhospitable places. There's no visible earth. There's traffic on one side, boats on the other. (The engines of some boats can be very fumey when they are start up and turn towards the sea.) The wind can be strong along here and there's salt in the air.
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| The blue is a pipe going down from a tap. You can see the tap itself on my other blog- Message in a Milk Bottle - TAP. |
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| Is there anywhere Buddleia will not grow? |
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| Where plants have no hold - moss takes its chance. |
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| And, down in the gap . . . a leaf floats by. |
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| Below the life-belt case . |
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I had an inland-urban post in line too. Pavements made from bricks have become common - and plants are glad of the cracks between them.
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| Never under-estimate grass! |
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| Some ubiquitous plants don't like to be trodden on. |
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| There can be great variety at the foot of a wall where residents refuse to 'weed'. |
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| Grasses come in many forms. Hurray! |
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| Don't forget to look close-up! The patterns and textures can be impressive. |
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Alright, I know that, however impressed I am that so many plants are able to get their feet into almost impossible places
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. . . most who read Loose and Leafy like to see colour and countryside. Here is a picture which got away when I wrote the post about the under-side of flowers.
I'll be back in September . . . around the 16th I expect.
Have a good August everyone.
Lucy
