Hannah Jones

A bunch of pretty blue forget-me-nots nestled in the grass with the sun setting in the background.

Close up of the forget-me-nots.

An ivy-leaved speedwell plant held up against an out-of-focus bean field. The leaves are dark green, heart shaped, and hairy, and a tiny blueish purple flower is visible in the centre of the frame.

Another shot of the same flower.

Not sure if forget-me-nots fit this week's #WildFlowerHour #TinyPlants theme, but they're too pretty not to share.

Just in case, have a bonus ivy-leaved speedwell. The flowers were so tiny my phone struggled to focus on them. 🙃

20.04.2025 20:01 — 👍 72    🔁 8    💬 1    📌 0

A gas measurement chamber sits in a plot of wheat with tubes snaking out of frame. Probes are sticking into the soil. And for once, the sky is blue and the sun is shining!

It's turned out to be a gorgeous day for #PlantScience fieldwork. ☀️

I'm suddenly starting to regret my earlier pessimism in leaving my suncream at home. 🫠

10.04.2025 13:13 — 👍 7    🔁 1    💬 1    📌 0

Oh, it looks like the poll's closed now. That was quick, it was only posted on Tuesday!

17.01.2025 17:39 — 👍 1    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

A small, upright plant pokes out of the grass. It's hairy, its soft green leaves are tipped with frost, and near the top hangs a single deep blue-ish purple flower bud almost ready to bloom.

In the foreground of a snowy, misty hillside scene, a tree branch tipped with buds reaches down into the frame. It is completely encased in a layer of clear ice and dotted with small icicles.

A snowy Peak District scene is softly out of focus in the background. In the foreground are dead brown sprigs of heather. They are completely encased in a layer of clear ice.

A closeup of a sprig of gorse, its spiked leaves completely encased in a layer of clear ice. In the background is snow and more frozen gorse.

I spotted a frosty common field speedwell in flower on a field visit this week! #WildflowerHour

(plus bonus plant pictures from a wintery walk in the Peaks last Sunday)

12.01.2025 20:57 — 👍 26    🔁 1    💬 0    📌 0

A field of direct-drilled cereal stubble on a grey December day. Sitting in the grassy field margin is a very out-of-place bright red vacuum cleaner, sporting his trademark cheeky grin.

Also spotted while out and about this week: a wild Henry Hoover!

08.12.2024 21:04 — 👍 1    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

A small weedy plant being held up against a tarmac road. At the top of the stem, there are four tiny flowers, each with four white petals.

Another stem from the same plant showing the distinctive heart-shaped seed pods of Shepherd's Purse.

A small White Dead-nettle growing in a grassy verge alongside a pavement. It looks very much like a stinging nettle, only with a whorl of white hooded flowers around its stem. (Stinging nettles have drooping, greenish, catkin-like flowers)

A larger White Dead-nettle against a grassy background. Everything is slightly damp and covered in water droplets.

It's getting harder to find plants in bloom for #WildflowerHour, but I stumbled across two this week!

Shepherd's Purse — often an arable weed, but on this occasion found poking out of a curb at a service station — and White Dead-nettle.

08.12.2024 20:51 — 👍 42    🔁 7    💬 2    📌 0

A lone greater knapweed flower catching the afternoon sunlight. It is pinkish-purple with a crown of long tendril-shaped bracts.

Most of the flowering plants in this patch have given up the ghost now, but one greater knapweed flower soldiers on. #WildflowerHour

01.12.2024 20:56 — 👍 21    🔁 2    💬 0    📌 0

(I'd definitely recommend the event to UK-based agricultural #PlantScience researchers and students. Keep an eye out next year, it's free!)

28.11.2024 17:13 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

The Warwick Agri-tech stand at Day 1 of the CropTec trade show. Agricultural robots are on display, and people are talking to the exhibitors.

Dr Edward Dickin giving a fascinating talk on strip cropping at the UKRI stand

A big green John Deere sprayer parked in an exhibition hall.

The Women in Food & Farming Network Under 30s panel on Entering Food and Farming, chaired by Kirsty Barden and featuring Jamilla Mohammed, Tanya Peters, Jess Clarke, and Alex Muxworthy from the MDS Ltd graduate scheme.

Really enjoyed visiting #CropTec Day 1 yesterday. Lots of great talks, panels, and exhibitors!

28.11.2024 17:07 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 1    📌 0

Close-up of a white daisy-like flower in a patch of similar flowers and yellow conical seedheads.

A wider view of a patch of white, daisy-like flowers with a bare arable field in the background. The sky is grey, it's threatening to rain.

Went for a canal walk today and couldn't resist nipping into this field for a closer look. A big patch of scentless mayweed for #wildflowerhour!

24.11.2024 20:51 — 👍 57    🔁 4    💬 0    📌 0

a man holding a large green leaf with the words i just love a good leaf below him ALT: a man holding a large green leaf with the words i just love a good leaf below him

Plant biologists! We need you!
We did set up a quick survey to study why people chose to study plant science.
Please check here and shared widely:
forms.gle/4X3FUwzxXBx3...
#PlantSci

19.11.2024 14:40 — 👍 102    🔁 81    💬 4    📌 8

A close-up photo of a buttercup in a grassy meadow

Red clover flowers poking through grass

Sunny yellow common ragwort flowers

A dandelion-like flower against a grassy meadow

My first #wildflowerhour! A buttercup, some red clovers, common ragwort, and — after some back and forth with a colleague — what we think is common cat's-ear

17.11.2024 20:21 — 👍 23    🔁 1    💬 1    📌 0