Posted in Garden visits, Gardening, Uncategorized, tagged Bute, Cardiff, Gardening on August 30, 2021| 2 Comments »
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. (more…)
Posted in Cardiff, History, Uncategorized, tagged Bute, Cardiff Bay, History, The Wharf on January 27, 2019| 5 Comments »
The old crane beside the Wharf, which was once Cardiff’s Bute East Dock
For the last year my regular walk has been around the Wharf in Cardiff Bay, alongside County Hall, where I now work. The Wharf was formerly the Bute East Dock and a crane from those days stands near the middle of the far side. (more…)
Posted in Cardiff, Nature, Trees, Uncategorized, tagged Bute, Cardiff, flowers, Nature, Trees on May 5, 2017| 11 Comments »
A very pink red campion (Silene dioica)
When I go to visit “my” 100 elm trees in Pontcanna Fields here in Cardiff, I am always tempted to walk on, cross Blackweir Bridge over the River Taff and keep going until I reach Bute Park and eventually the city centre.
I was last in this wild area in January and blogged about it here. Last week I visited again and the spring wildflowers were wonderful. I also think I found the purple maple tree I failed to locate back in the winter. (more…)
Posted in Cardiff, Nature, Trees, Uncategorized, tagged Bute, Cardiff, Trees, winter on January 27, 2017| 11 Comments »
Clematis vitalba or old man’s beard beside Blackweir Bridge – I had never noticed how lovely the seeds were before
The other day after lunch with an old friend I decided to walk back from Cardiff city centre to Pontcanna Fields over Blackweir Bridge, as I hadn’t been there for decades. My hour-long ramble started in Bute Park and took me to areas I had sometimes wondered about as I viewed them from the path on the opposite side of the River Taff. (more…)
Posted in Gardening, tagged Bute, flowers, Gardening on June 23, 2016| 11 Comments »
Peony in Bute Park, Cardiff, June 2016
These days I have trouble noticing anything but trees when I walk in Cardiff’s many parks. But I made a special effort to think about the flowers when passing through the herbaceous borders in Bute Park a couple of weeks ago. I followed the borders quite closely last summer (see my flower posts here), but now it’s a little bit “been there, done that”.
This time I snapped pictures of big ball-like flowers, skipping everything else. Although sadly my subjects – peonies and poppies – are dying off now it’s midsummer. (more…)
Posted in Cardiff, Garden shows, Gardening, Uncategorized, tagged Bute, Cardiff, Gardening on April 21, 2016| 11 Comments »
The Big Friendly Giant stood at the entrance to the Cardiff Flower Show – Roald Dahl came from Cardiff
We go every year to the Cardiff RHS Flower Show in Bute Park, so here are my images from last weekend. I didn’t find it as wonderful as in previous years, and didn’t snap everything as greedily, but that’s probably just because I now feel “I’ve seen it all before”. Oh dear… (more…)
Posted in Cardiff, Horses, Non-digital archive, Nostalgia, Photography, Uncategorized, tagged Bute, Cardiff, horses, Nostalgia, photography on February 29, 2016| 6 Comments »
A Japanese horseback archery contest took place in Cardiff in 1991
Occasionally I look back at the pictures I took in the days before digital cameras. This time the subject was a Japanese Yabusame (horseback archery) event in Cardiff’s Cooper’s Field, part of Bute Park, on Sunday, September 15, 1991. That was a particular boom time for industry links between Wales and Japan and we all loved anything Japanese. (more…)
Posted in Cardiff, Nature, Trees, tagged Bute, Cardiff, Trees on January 19, 2016| 43 Comments »
Ginkgo Avenue, Bute Park, Cardiff
I was toying with the idea of following a Ginkgo biloba or maidenhair tree this year, but I have been unable to find a single one close at hand that I can visit every month. What I have found is a whole avenue of Ginkgo trees in Cardiff’s Bute Park. So rather than single out just one to follow every month I am going to visit the avenue less often, to see how it changes in the four seasons. (more…)
Posted in Nature, Trees, Uncategorized, tagged Bute, Nature, Paulownia, Trees on January 5, 2016| 13 Comments »
Seed capsules of Paulownia tomentosa on January 5, 2016
As the year turns and the sun starts to head back from the south I count myself blessed that I followed such a wonderful tree in 2015. My empress tree (Paulownia tomentosa) has had something new to show every month and even now she is not exactly the same as she was when I first met her in Cardiff’s Bute Park, this time last year. (more…)
Posted in Nature, Trees, Uncategorized, tagged Bute, Nature, Trees on December 7, 2015| 15 Comments »
Fallen red conifer needles in Bute Park in December
Welcome to my second monthly tree-following link box after taking over the project from Loose and Leafy. The box is now closed but you’ll find everyone’s links at the bottom of the post.
In the UK most of the tree leaves have fallen now, although I can still see yellow sycamore and hazel leaves hanging on in a sheltered corner of my garden. We had a very wet and windy November here – I wonder what the weather has been like where you live?
I love learning new things and the tree at the top of this post has taught me that larches are not the only conifers that lose their foliage in winter. I’m afraid I always thought they were.
I spotted that tree beside the red bridge in Cardiff’s Bute Park in November and at first I thought it was dying… (more…)
The Squirrelbasket 