What's flowering as forage in your area

[Antipodes]

Shocking season here so far with the La Nina, so never been so pleased to see the blackberry (bramble) out. UV at 10 today.

 

[Amari]

Shocking season here so far with the La Nina, so never been so pleased to see the blackberry (bramble) out. UV at 10 today.

Oh, I seem to remember from two lovely holidays in Tas that bramble is a noxious imported pest and is sprayed with herbicide whenever seen; notices advise berries should not be eaten. Akin to Himalayan balsam here.

 

[Antipodes]

Oh, I seem to remember from two lovely holidays in Tas that bramble is a noxious imported pest and is sprayed with herbicide whenever seen; notices advise berries should not be eaten. Akin to Himalayan balsam here.

That's right. I heard the other day that invasive species cost Australian agriculture 25 billion dollars a year. The councils can't keep the grass down at the moment (it's been so wet), let alone deal with the blackberry, so there is quite a lot around now. I was on a river bank on Sunday and some of the tops of the grass were 7 feet tall. I've never seen anything like it.
Centre left of photo is blackberry (out now) and next to it crack willow ..finished (both introduced and invasive) and centre right is woolly tea tree (in flower) and Blackwood (finished).

 

[Nannysbees]

That's right. I heard the other day that invasive species cost Australian agriculture 25 billion dollars a year. The councils can't keep the grass down at the moment (it's been so wet), let alone deal with the blackberry, so there is quite a lot around now. I was on a river bank on Sunday and some of the tops of the grass were 7 feet tall. I've never seen anything like it.
Centre left of photo is blackberry (out now) and next to it crack willow ..finished (both introduced and invasive) and centre right is woolly tea tree (in flower) and Blackwood (finished). View attachment 29400

Stunning scenery

 

[PeaBee]

Borage flowering in December!

 

[SWHives]

Took the dog for a walk yesterday and noticed that the Bush we went past was flowering. Anybody knows what this is?

 

[Erichalfbee]

Viburnum tinus

 

[Polymorph]

Took the dog for a walk yesterday and noticed that the Bush we went past was flowering. Anybody knows what this is?

Quite agree viburnum tinus, great early source

 

[Erichalfbee]

View attachment 29463
Borage flowering in December!

Will it survive the winter?

 

[Curly green finger's]

Will it survive the winter?

If its mild I think so aldepends on the area and soil type as well.
It is frost tolerent to a Certian degree but the combination of wet and cold will damage it considerably.
I have seedlings which have come up in the wildflower area and they are ok at the moment.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Is it n normal to plant a field as you would over wintering OSR?

 

[Curly green finger's]

Is it n normal to plant a field as you would over wintering OSR?

Both are annuals

 

[Erichalfbee]

Both are annuals

I know so is wheat but you see autumn sowings so that seedlings survive winter and bloom earlier. That is done with OSR. I wondered whether it was done with borage? PeaBee's photo suggests it is. I wondered how common it was

 

[Curly green finger's]

I know so is wheat but you see autumn sowings so that seedlings survive winter and bloom earlier. That is done with OSR. I wondered whether it was done with borage? PeaBee's photo suggests it is. I wondered how common it was

I agree, I did wonder also.

 

[PeaBee]

I know so is wheat but you see autumn sowings so that seedlings survive winter and bloom earlier. That is done with OSR. I wondered whether it was done with borage? PeaBee's photo suggests it is. I wondered how common it was

My photo was of a cover crop that had been chopped in in late summer and self seeded, will be interested to see if it over winters and gives early spring flowers. Never come across borage as a crop being planted over winter it was always planted in spring and flowered and harvested in July. I remember it always being a rush to get bees from the borage to the heather.

 

[Erichalfbee]

***

 

[Nannysbees]

I plant borage in pots and straight into the ground every year the pots are an insurance in case the ones in the ground fail.As they self seed they come up the following year but are much smaller than the new plants

 

[W0otz]

First snowdrop has appeared in the garden. Probably a slightly confused plant flowering a bit early, but always a nice sight!

 

[deemann1]

Evergreen daphne

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

First snowdrop has appeared in the garden. Probably a slightly confused plant flowering a bit early, but always a nice sight!
View attachment 29755

Often see snowdrops poking through about Christmas time (this year seems to be the the exception) and every New year's day when hunting in the Ceidrych valley (where the Welsh village of Bethlehem is situated) I would park my vehicle outside Bethlehem chapel to go and take my station on Glan Ceidrych farm (where my grandfather worked as a farmhand) under Carn Goch iron age fort. and opposite the chapel is an oak tree which is always surrounded by snowdrops on the verge of opening.