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9.07.24 Bishop’s lace, Bishop’s wort, and Mare’s fart
These are alternative names for three July wildflowers that are out in the Front Meadow currently. Bishop’s lace is more commonly known...
anthonyheys2
Jul 9, 20242 min read


26.06.24 Pyramidal Orchids
While the Southern marsh and Common spotted orchids are continuing to flower amongst the Oxeye daisies, I started looking for the small,...
anthonyheys2
Jun 26, 20242 min read


11.06.24 Meadow Orchids Thriving
The Front Meadow is looking great this year, and not suffering from the overgrowth of tall vegetation that the Back Meadow is. Common...
anthonyheys2
Jun 11, 20241 min read


22.05.24 The Grass is as High as an Elephant’s Eye
The Back Meadow has grown incredibly high this year after all the Winter and Spring rain with mild temperatures. There is not much colour...
anthonyheys2
May 22, 20242 min read


16.04.24 Pleione Finally!
In March 2016 I was contacted by an expert Pleione grower who had made cross-pollinations of his plants and produced seed samples. Could...
anthonyheys2
Apr 16, 20242 min read


21.03.24 The British Giants
The start of our orchid season is still at least a month away, but on the 16th of March I was fortunate to be able to go on an outing to...
anthonyheys2
Mar 21, 20242 min read


29.02.24 Heath Spotted Orchids
It is Leap Year’s day and we are emerging from a mild but very wet winter in West Sussex. Gardening is impossible; the lawn and both...
anthonyheys2
Feb 29, 20242 min read


26.1.24 The Joy of Chalk
Many U.K. hardy orchids love growing in alkaline soils above chalk or limestone. So it follows that every hardy orchid and garden meadow...
anthonyheys2
Jan 26, 20242 min read


22.12.23 The Bug Orchid
Red is a Christmassy colour (robins, Santa, etc) so I am using this as a thin excuse to talk about a red, or at least dark carmine-red,...
anthonyheys2
Dec 22, 20232 min read


27.11.23 Fungi on meadows and lawns
With the weather still mild, and following all the recent relentless rain, an interesting scatter of little fungi has appeared on the...
anthonyheys2
Nov 27, 20231 min read


20.10.23 Marsh Helleborine (Epipactis palustris)
In deepest October not much of interest is happening on the wildflower meadows, so time for some out of season reminiscence. A hardy...
anthonyheys2
Oct 20, 20232 min read


26.09.23 Autumn Lady's-Tresses
The orchid season is pretty much over now for this year. If you discount the Ghost orchid (Epipogium aphyllum), which anyhow may be...
anthonyheys2
Sep 26, 20232 min read


14.08.23 One man went to mow
I have just finished cutting down both Front and Back meadows for this year. There were still a few colourful Knapweeds and Wild carrots...
anthonyheys2
Aug 14, 20232 min read


14.07.23 July Meadows
The exuberant height of meadow flowering may have passed now, in mid July, but there is still plenty of interest as we go into the last...
anthonyheys2
Jul 14, 20232 min read


27.06.23 And another thing....
I forgot to say in the previous blog post do e-mail me if you have any orchid or meadow thoughts, questions, comments, stories, or need...
anthonyheys2
Jun 27, 20231 min read


27.06.23 Pyramidal Surprise
We have been away for a few days and came back to find this Pyramidal orchid (Anacamptis pyramidalis) flowering on the front meadow. It...
anthonyheys2
Jun 27, 20231 min read


13.06.23 Dactylorhizas peaking
Though there are still a few lower areas of sward, both front and back meadows have grown to a great height, due mostly to Oxeye daisies...
anthonyheys2
Jun 13, 20231 min read


25.05.2023 Yellow Meadow
The meadows have grown rapidly in the last 2 weeks or so, perhaps due to the generous amount of rain we had over winter, and are now two...
anthonyheys2
May 25, 20231 min read


Flowering orchids of May 11.05.2023
There have been three Green-winged orchids (Anacamptis morio) flowering nicely on the back meadow, just past their peak now. All are...
anthonyheys2
May 11, 20231 min read


26.04.2023 First flowering orchid
Yesterday I noticed a tiny glint of colour in the back meadow and found this Green-winged orchid (Anacamptis morio). It is the first...
anthonyheys2
Apr 26, 20231 min read
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