Wild Flowers
Even so, there are many places where you can still see our gorgeous heritage of flowers; from meadows kept by the Wildlife Trusts, to places where it is impossible to farm intensively, like water meadows, or hillsides, or woods [proper woods, as I like to call them], real deciduous woodland. And now, too, the sides of our motorways are a haven for wild flowers, as they are allowed to grow 'naturally', and are not sprayed.
It is a total delight to be able to rent a Holiday Cottage away from it all in a spot which is renowned for its wild flowers. The cottages I am recommending are all beautifully maintained and situated in various scenic places throughout Europe, the USA, and here in the UK, and offer great value for money. Just click the link to browse their brochure and start planning!
If you are travelling 'abroad' you could do no better than use the following link to arrange your Car Hire, Travel Insurance and even Ferry Crossings... all extremely quick and easy to arrange... and all from one easy to use site.
FREE brochures. Gorgeous Holiday Brochures to fascinating and exotic destinations. Just type 'wild flowers tours' into the box, and a wide selection of Brochures is yours for the asking... and best of all it is free. You can plan the most wonderful holidays well in advance... an unmissable offer! Click the link below to view the wonderful selection available NOW.
An interest in Wild Flowers can stem from so many different directions ..... nearly as many different directions as the interest can take you in! From just a general interest, to collecting, or a hobby, or on to a full career... your imagination can probably give you lots more ideas, but here are a few... Walking, Holidays, both local and worldwide, Collecting books on the subject, Gardening with wild flowers, Conservation, Photography or Painting/sketching... ANY or all of the above could be made into a career or life interest, if that is your hearts desire. Links to books, holidays, gardening, and wild flower seeds, etcetera, are contained within this page, and the pages for Wild Flower Seeds, and Wild Flower Gardens. We have separate pages on books and educational courses, and also pages on organisations, laws, places to visit, and items of interest including flower photography.
Spring, to me, is always a favourite and gorgeous time of year here in the UK ... when some of our most delightful displays of flowers [and trees, for example Horse Chestnut, Wild Cherry and Crab Apple] can be enjoyed. The sight of Primroses around the edges of fields and woods, also Cowslips, is a total joy... then there are the delicate Violets and Wood Anemones. Both Cornwall and Pembrokeshire are especially well blessed with wild flowers, as farming has not been so intensive there... largely because the terrain is not conducive to such cultivation. They are both blessed with the glorious Sea Pinks [Thrift] around the coastline too... and to visit Skomer island [off the Pembrokeshire coast] when the Bluebells, Red Campions and Greater Stitchwort are in full bloom, is a never to be forgotten experience. Then we have the spectacular Foxglove flowers, Wild Roses and the wonderful scented Honeysuckle in the hedges. The joy of finding delicate Bee Orchids and Harebells [and many other lovely Orchids too]. Also, just imagine the wonderful scent of Lime blossom accompanied by the peaceful sound of the bees amongst the flowers. I could go on... and on... and on... water meadows, with Yellow Iris and King Cups [Marsh Marigolds] and Purple Loosestrife... Bluebell woods... mountains... the chalk downs... fields of Red Poppies [sadly a rare sight now]... and, once seen, sadly gone, a field just covered in the orange-gold of Corn Marigolds set against a glorious blue sea...
And here in the UK we have another extremely useful resource... we are now blessed with two very different, but equally wonderful sites to visit:- The National Botanic Garden of Wales. The Eden Project in Cornwall. Flora from all over the world has been transported to these sites, with their wonderful 'glasshouses' and it grows in profusion in these amazing settings. So much can be learned from a visit to either [or better still, both] about the flora of all the different continents.
I hope that you enjoy the spectacles for yourself one day... and if not, that you can at the very least grow some of the plants from a reputable seed source [see our page devoted entirely to Wild Flower Seeds and advice]. Of course, those which are wild flowers in one country are exotics in another! For example, the South African flowers which are so intricate, large, and beautiful appear to us in the UK as extremely exotic. Yet, they grow wild there! If you are from the UK it is well worth going to the Chelsea Flower Show just to go and see the South African exhibit alone... it is reliably amazing! The flowers and gardens in South Africa are amazing at most times of year, but if you are lucky enough to go at a time when the FYNBOS is at its best... it is another never to be forgotten spectacle. Alibris stocks over 40 million used, new and hard-to-find books. If you click through to their site, [see link below] then in the search facility on the left hand side use the bottom line which says ... by subject/genre ... type in Wild flowers and a large and fascinating collection of books on the subject will be listed. A fascinating site ... and they will ship to virtually any address in the world! Buy new, used, and hard-to-find books at Alibris!
For your convenience in locating places to visit and items of interest, there are webpages [entitled Places to Visit, and Organizations] which are devoted especially to links to organisations and other places where you can obtain useful information. The Organizations page has just had a new wildflower holiday link added.
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