Moira O'Donnell

Every day is better when you see a Hairy-footed Flower Bee.

😃👍

Southall park confirmed as local nature reserve by council Warren Farm in Southall is already home to nesting skylarks, wildflowers, butterflies and bees.

Congratulations @warrenfarmnr.bsky.social!
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

@bsbibotany.bsky.social You may already know this, but I've just spotted that the 100 Plants in 2026 Challenge was featured last month in @mzharrison.bsky.social's Encounter app.
bsbi.org/take-part/ac...

Country diary: A riverside walk reveals the city’s history written in plants | Susie White Lower Ouseburn, Newcastle upon Tyne: Under boardwalks, in concrete, on window ledges, seeds borne by water and carried on feet survive

It was such a pleasure to spend a few hours with Guardian Country Diarist Susie White, admiring #pavementplants and other urban treasures in Newcastle’s Ouseburn Valley 🌿

www.theguardian.com/environment/...

IN BLOOM EXHIBITION The stories behind some of Britain’s most beloved blooms – from roses and tulips to camellias and peonies.

Ooh, this looks interesting.

In Bloom Exhibition | Ashmolean Museum share.google/eCOswFWVZ5ll...

Ooh, was this in a park or somewhere like that? I'm wondering if it is perhaps an Acer, maybe Red Maple or Silver Maple? The absence of male catkins and the number of flowers make me think it's not Hazel.

That looks like a Scilla I think, but I'm not sure which species. Perhaps Siberian Squill, Scilla siberica, but I think you might be in the US, and I'm not familiar with the US flora.

💜

😂 Yes! I do in fact have a little moiramobile that I zoom around it, but sometimes I like to let the bus or the train take the strain!

Yes! Took me a minute to work out what it was!

So impatient!

Very precocious!

😆

It really is looking splendid atm.

I have to jump on the SL5 then the SL3!

Lovely! The bottom one looks like Hairy Violet, Viola hirta. It likes chalk downland.

💛

Your wavering is correct!

Very impressive!

Lovely photo.

Fabulous! 💜🤍

Ooh, that actually looks more like a Common Dog Violet to me. Do you happen to have any side on photos showing the spur and sepals?

Yes, that's right, with the violet coloured spurs it is Viola odorata var. dumentorum. There's another white-flowered form with pink spurs, and that one is var. imberbis.

I've got similar pics of it growing on the walls of Lesnes Abbey!

How glorious.

Ooh, yes they are (rounded ends to the sepals visible). That's a very pretty coloured form.

Lovely Wood Anemone, (aka Windflower), Anemone nemorosa, among the Daffodils at Lesnes Abbey Woods. #WildflowerHour #SignsOfSpring

The very first of the Bluebells, Hyacinthoides non-scripta, are starting to flower here and there. This one was in Lesnes Abbey Woods. #SignsOfSpring #WildflowerHour

Hi Ria, that's an Early Dog Violet, Viola reichenbachiana. There's a little Violet guide on the WildflowerHour website.
wildflowerhouruk.weebly.com/uploads/1/4/...