A meadow in the car park

Yarrow or milfoil (Achillea millefolium) in the office car park, June 2016

For a few months now I have been working three days a week in an unprepossessing low-rise office on a small industrial estate in Newport, South East Wales, about 10 miles down the road from Cardiff.

I don’t go out much, as the weather has been wet and there isn’t a lot to see apart from corner shops, but the other day I found myself wandering around the car park in the sunshine, while on my mobile phone to someone. And I suddenly realised that the scruffy edges of the car park are full of wonderful wild flowers.

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Some blousy blooms of summer

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.

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The herbaceous border in August

My favourite flower from the latest trip to the Bute Park borders – I’ll tell you what it is later…

Just as I have been following a tree every month in Bute Park, Cardiff, I have also been “following” the herbaceous borders there since they came to life in spring. My latest visit was on August 6. This is a view of the borders taken while standing near my Paulownia tree, but zoomed in quite a bit…

Bute Park herbaceous borders in August

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The herbaceous border in July

Pink peony in the herbaceous borders of Bute Park, Cardiff, in July 2015

Every month or so I am visiting the herbaceous borders in Bute Park, Cardiff, to see what’s in bloom and learn to identify a few more plants. This visit was on July 2, just after I had been to check up on the Paulownia tree I am following. It was early, so I stopped for breakfast at the park’s Summerhouse Cafe before walking through the borders to work.

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By Jupiter’s beard – red valerian gets everywhere

Pink valerian (Centranthus ruber) growing on a street wall in Cardiff last week

There is red valerian in flower everywhere in Cardiff at the moment, growing from walls and flat roofs where it wasn’t planted. I always notice this stout plant, as it was one of the first I could put a name to. It grew on the lean-to shed outside the back door of the cottage where I lived as a child. I don’t remember

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The herbaceous border in late May

A busy bee in the herbaceous borders of Bute Park, Cardiff, on May 21

I am now being swamped by the flowers bursting out of the herbaceous borders of Bute Park in Cardiff, so I’d better give another update before they get totally out of control. When I reported on April and early May it was all tulips and a few other splashes of colour, but now

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The herbaceous border in spring

Red flowers in the Bute Park herbaceous border on May 7 – beautiful but I can’t quite identify them – any ideas? …thanks to Elaine Rickett for suggesting it’s Geum

When I go to Cardiff’s Bute Park to visit the tree I am “following”, I usually walk back along the herbaceous borders. I always admire them, as it is such a traditional British idea, having permanent plantings of perennials that are mostly at their best in the warmer months, dying back to bare soil in winter when we all stay indoors. Here are some pictures of the borders coming back to life in spring. Sorry I haven’t taken a general view yet – maybe next time!

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