Flower Friday in the John Muir Country Park

Happy Flower Friday, friends!

I wonder how many of my North American readers know that we have a 'John Muir Country Park' right here in Scotland?

It's situated on the coast close by the town of Dunbar in East Lothian, where naturalist John Muir (one of Gail's heroes) was born in 1838 and lived until the family emigrated to the USA when he was aged eleven.

So as a child, Muir's first encounters with nature came from wandering around the dunes, woods and fields in this part of lowland Scotland.

Gail took me on a walk in the Country Park after we had lunch with YAM-Aunty just over a week ago. I was all for racing off at top speed along the sandy path between the dunes and the pine trees, but, being an obliging sort of a chap, I stopped now and again to pose beside these pretty blue bell shaped flowers.

A later consultation with the flower book told us that the plant is 'Viper's Bugloss' and it is the county flower of East Lothian. You are unlikely to see viper's bugloss as far north as Aberdeen though.

I'm afraid Gail failed to take any other photos of the John Muir Country Park. It is a pleasant enough place, but, to be frank, hardly up there with Yosemite and other favourite stamping grounds of Mr Muir.

Well then, perhaps you would instead like to see a picture of Gail, flanked by her two American friends Joni and Marse, taken in September 1989 when these three (then) young-ish ladies enjoyed two weeks of hiking and backpacking in Yosemite National Park.

Were Gail's legs ever truly that brown?!!!

Oh and here she is on top of Half Dome.

Maybe I could visit Yosemite one day....

Not a nice name?

I'm sorry to report that last weekend my botanical assistant was too busy yak-yakking away with her blogging buddies to pay careful attention to the wildflowers we came across on our excursions in the Argyll area. 

As a result, this week I have no close up flower photos for Rosy and the Gang's Flower Friday, and I am unsure whether the mauve-coloured blooms pictured above are field scabious or devil's-bit scabious. I think, judging by the damp meadow habitat, that the latter is more likely. Either way, surely 'scabious' is not a nice name for such pretty little plant?

I do know that the yellow flowers on the left of the picture are ragwort, and this 'weed' seems to have done particularly well in the unusually warm weather we've had here in Scotland this summer. 

I would like to be able to promise that I'll do better next week, but with Gail imminently swanning off to the Edinburgh Festival for a few days and me being dispatched to neighbours Neil and Yvonne, I don't want to build unrealistic expectations, flower-wise.

Oops-a-Daisy it's Flower Friday!

So the other day Gail and I made the two mile walk from our house down to the mouth of Aberdeen harbour, and she decided this big patch of daisies would make a nice feature for Rosy and the LLB gang's Flower Friday.

Gosh if you had any idea how patiently I stood on the steep slope while Gail awkwardly manoeuvered herself into a crouching position to take the pictures showing the North Sea in the background.

And you know I even refrained from laughing when Gail stood up again and realised she'd been sitting in a bog...

Gail and I did have a little dispute about what type of daisies we were looking at. Of course, when Gail consulted the flower book after we got home, she decided that I was probably right, and they were shasta daisies (a garden escape) and not oxeye daisies.

PS Is it wrong to find it funny that the latin name for the shasta daisy is leucanthemum x superbum?

A good year for the roses...

Today, for Rosy and the LLB gang's Flower Friday, I want you to come with me to visit a very special place, the Piper Alpha Memorial Garden in Hazlehead Park, Aberdeen.

Why here, why now?

Well today, Friday 6th July 2018, it is exactly thirty years since the Piper Alpha oil platform exploded into flames and 167 workers perished in the North Sea oil industry's worst ever disaster.

A statue commemorating the men who died stands in the centre of a beautiful rose garden, and this year, after so much warm sunny weather recently, the blooms are simply stunning.

I don't suppose that all those who perished were, in life, angels - they were just the usual human mix. But not one of them deserved to lose their life so tragically early, in a disaster that was entirely preventable.

Gail and I hope you enjoy the roses, and as you do so, please spare a thought for relatives and friends left behind, many of whom live locally in the Aberdeen area.

A shout out for Chickweed Wintergreen

Gosh I can't wait to show you what I found in Clochandighter Woods this week ...

Come here and look at these pretty white flowers!

They do look a bit like wood anemones, but they bloom later, in early summer, and have oval leaves and pointy petals. Just like little stars twinkling in a galaxy of greenery, don't you think?

The plant is called chickweed wintergreen.

You won't come across chickweed wintergreen in the southern parts of the UK. It likes our cooler Scottish temperatures.

Rather insultingly, I feel, the website NatureGate describes chickweed wintergreen's sexual reproduction as "quite inefficient'". Well that's as maybe, but it seems to be doing OK here on the fringe of this pine plantation, ignoring the sex business and happily cloning away without so much as a word of encouragement from Sir Ian Wilmut.  And anyway, plant sex sounds rather boring doesn't it? All that hanging around waiting for a pollinator to show up. Not nearly such fun as us animals have! Might I mention here this hot wee spaniel I met in the park the other day? Phwoar, she was gorgeous. AND she smelled a like a bitch in a state to enjoy a good time, if you know what I mean....

What's that Gail? I am straying off topic? Well OK, so that's enough for this Flower Friday. Must hurry away and find something new for next week!

Flower Friday: Azaleas galore!

When one thinks of colour in reference to my home city Aberdeen, I'm afraid the phrase that comes most readily to mind is 'Fifty Shades of Grey'. ..

But thankfully, every May/June in our Hazlehead Park the Azalea Garden bursts into life, and us poor colour-deprived Aberdonians can for a few short weeks enjoy the sort of vibrant and glorious display which those of you in sunnier climes might take for granted.

To celebrate our friend Rosy's 'Flower Friday', it is my privilege to take you on a visit to Hazlehead.