Bute’s herbaceous borders run wild

The Rudbeckias are among the stars of the herbaceous borders in Bute Park at the moment

I had not visited the usually wonderful herbaceous borders at the city end of Bute Park in Cardiff since well before the Covid-19 lockdown. I was working far away down in Cardiff Bay for a couple of years and then when I was forced to base myself at home the park seemed too far to walk. I have become lazy and until recently buses seemed too much of an infection risk.

But last week on the way back from a funeral I walked right across the city centre – 6,600 steps including a visit to this park for old times’ sake.

It was a little disappointing. I expect the council parks workers have something more important to do these days but the usually manicured borders were running a bit wild in places. This isn’t a complaint – the insects still thrive – just an observation. Here are my pictures…

General view…

…and another one

Pink Dahlia

Red Dahlia

Wildness…

…overgrown with bindweed (Calystegia sepium) and other weeds

More wildness…

…and I can’t recall the name of this border plant with big, attractive leaves

Snails (probably) have attacked the Hostas…

…more shredded greenery

Another general view, with the spires of Phormium to the left

Rudbeckias

Fading Rudbeckias

More wildness

I have seen this before but can’t recall the name

Allium seedhead

Lovely Echinacea, I think…

…attractive to bees

There was a Jurassic Experience in the centre of the park, but well fenced off so I couldn’t sneak any pictures without paying the entry fee. The place was full of parents and children who had been willing to pay £44 at the door for a family ticket – £13 for one adult like me. Anyway I couldn’t find the entrance…

A corner of the Jurassic Experience

Perhaps the disappointing weather this summer has had something to do with it but the borders looked very different in my August 2015 blog post – here