Late Appearances

Cultivated gardens often target flowering throughout the year and many find colour in this season by turning to imported varieties. Native wild flowers of wayside and woodland can't rival such displays. My walks do find some colour however. Ragwort could be native or could be an introduced variety.

But one of the wonders among wild flowers for extended flowering time is herb robert, so commom we hardly notice it until everything else has died back. This surely would make an excellent border flower if it were not so leggy; many relatives in the cranesbill family are found in borders and rockeries.

Another wonder is the mountain cranberry. It has already flowered and produced a good crop of berries which may have been used for an excellent preseve. Now, as late as this, it is flowering again. Should conditions be favourable, mild temperatures and enough insects, they may bring a crop just a week or two before Christmas.

The mountain cranberry here could well be described as cultivated or semi-cultivated in that it is only here in such profusion due to human intervention, the often referred to management for heathland, via chain saw and cowpat.