Scottish Rock Garden Club Forum
General Subjects => Flowers and Foliage Now => Topic started by: Hoy on June 09, 2016, 09:50:45 PM
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When I drive or walk I am always interested in the plants on the road shoulder and the vicinity of the road. (My wife doesn't applaud though when we are driving. . . .) many of the plants are foreign and/or garden escapes but most are native and a few are rare but have found a new niche along the roads.
Please feel free to add your roadside plants!
Foreign lupins have been planted in gardens for many, many years and the Road Administration has used it intentionally along new roads to add colour :o
Now they are banned . . . . but common everywhere.
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A new garden escapee. Meconopsis/Papaver cambrica. It is also common in cities, especially here at the west coast. It is not native but a much used garden plant.
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Anaphalis sp. also not native but used as a garden ornamental. Tolerates dry sites.
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Now some native but very common ones ;)
Myosotis sp. Several species of this genus can be found along the roads. Some prefer dry other moist sites.
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Buttercups everywhere! This is Ranunculus acris. Several forms exist. Some get rather tall.
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Ranunculus repens. Some specimens have quite huge flowers like this one - my left thumb nail to the left if you were in doubt ;) Usually regarded as a bad garden weed.
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Conopodium majus. Always found on poor soil. Edible corm which taste like a hazel nut. A few years ago this was a pasture.
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This is good idea Trond; I will share pictures when possible. I am always amazed at the adaptability some species (natives or no) have and the way they thrive in most adverse conditions.
I hate driving; the roadside plants are a most welcome distraction :)
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One of the pleasures of driving through the mountains of the South Island of New Zealand is seeing acres of lupins along the banks of the rivers. A fantastic splash of colour, even if they are regarded as weeds.
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Lupinus nootkatensis was introduced into Iceland to stabilize soils but has run rampant and must affect the native flora greatly (pictures July 2015 along Dimonarvegur, S Iceland).
Unfortunately NZ paid heavily for 'improvement on nature' :-\
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Lupinus nootkatensis was introduced into Iceland to stabilize soils but has run rampant and must affect the native flora greatly (pictures July 2015 along Dimonarvegur, S Iceland).
Unfortunately NZ paid heavily for 'improvement on nature' :-\
Yes, weeds like gorse, broom, three cornered onion and Agapanthus, plus all the introduced birds and mammals. Early settlers regarded NZ fauna as inferior and needed to be replaced.
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Roadside plants: this is why I prefer to be a passenger rather than the driver. :)
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Well, today I had no choice but to drive myself. I had work to do in Sauda and started from home about 6.45 AM. It is 110km. On these roads it takes a little less than 2h. I had no time to stop everywhere I could wish and it is dangerously also some places. But I managed to take a few pictures.
Plantago lanceolata. Not the showiest but drought tolerant.
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Silene dioica. This one is more showy and very common. Although an attractive plant it is not much used in gardens.
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Lychnis flos-cuculi. Prefer moist places. Here it is a little seepage.
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The road follow the fjords more or less. I made a short stop where a river cascaded down from the mountains. Here I spotted a few interesting plants.
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Alchemilla alpina. Usually found much higher up but following the stream downwards
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Rhodiola rosea. No flowers though.
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Saxifraga cotyledon. It is not uncommon to find it in the steep mountain sides along the fjords, especially where water runs down the rock.
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Trond,
Your roadside plants (weeds) look good to me! :)
Plantago lanceolata is an invasive weed here in our part of California. I see it all the time throughout many life zones. I have to admit I like looking at blooming plants with a hand lens.
I think that I understand your situation of road side botany. The roads in California can be very dangerous; sometime very narrow; and too often with drivers that are exceeding the speed limit as well as distracted with their gizmos. Sometime very interesting species can be seen between the pavement and the private property fence line. Too often it is not possible to stop and check on the plants.
Anyway, thank you for sharing the scenes and plants. They are very beautiful, especially the waterfall.
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Some more roadside "weeds" ;)
I made a short stop at 1150 asl not far from Haugastøl on Rv7 (one of the roads from east to west) which crosses the Hardangervidda plateau.
One of the small lakes along the road. Snow lingers still at this altitude.
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This ubiquitous species can be found from the seaside and up to well above the treeline. It tolerates shade and full sun. The number of flower heads decrease as you ascend. Solidago virgaurea.
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I like this plant although each "flower" is insignificant. It is not rare at the treeline and above. Gnaphalium norvegicum.
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Oxyria digyna. Very common everywhere at an altitude. Good to eat but maybe not along the road.
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Bartsia alpina. Not uncommon.
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Astragalus alpinus. Also common but usually smaller clumps. No competition here at the roadside!
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Pedicularis lapponica. Also common.
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Beautiful Trond, although if you are describing Saxifraga cotyledon, Alchemilla alpina and Astragalus alpinus as weeds you may be on the wrong website :)
Isn't Bartsia named after Johann Bartsch, who helped Linnaeus? I read somewhere that Linnaeus didn't think much of Bartsch and so named what he considered a dull little plant after him.
I think it and Pedicularis lapponica are both rather beautiful.
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Beautiful Trond, although if you are describing Saxifraga cotyledon, Alchemilla alpina and Astragalus alpinus as weeds you may be on the wrong website :)
Isn't Bartsia named after Johann Bartsch, who helped Linnaeus? I read somewhere that Linnaeus didn't think much of Bartsch and so named what he considered a dull little plant after him.
I think it and Pedicularis lapponica are both rather beautiful.
Tristan, I wrote "weed or?" ;)
Somebody think they are just "weeds" - it is not uncommon to spray the roadsides with herbicides>:( :(
Johann Bartsch died in Suriname collecting plants for Linné. What Linné thought of Bartsch I don't know but Linné had an eye for details and his favorite plant was the little twinflower named after him (Linnaea borealis). I think Bartsia is a cute plant! I always look twice on it and also look for other interesting plants where it grows. The same goes for P. lapponica.
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A recent roadside invader here is yellow figwort, Scrophularia vernalis img. 1010430. There are many lupins along the motorway at Glenfarg in Perthshire.
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Somebody think they are just "weeds" - it is not uncommon to spray the roadsides with herbicides>:( :(
That used to be common practise in the UK too, but it happens much less regularly these days. Actually roadside verges can be some of the best places for plants now, as they are not fertilised or sprayed and are often seeded with wildflower mixes. This is both because of greater appreciation of wildlife and because councils need to save money. There is a superb stand of Betonica officinalis on a bypass near us which I will try to photograph one of these days.
The flip side of this is that so much farmland is now just a green desert. :( Modern farming and wildlife just are not compatible it seems.
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Some more roadside "weeds" ;)
I made a short stop at 1150 asl not far from Haugastøl on Rv7 (one of the roads from east to west) which crosses the Hardangervidda plateau.
One of the small lakes along the road. Snow lingers still at this altitude.
What a treat to have Bartsia and Pedicularis as roadside 'weeds' Trond!
Not that it matters much but, as far as I know, Linnaeus was quite fond on Bartsch.
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A few more I didn't show the other day.
Sea thrift (Armeria maritima). This shouldn't be here! A common plant along the rocky coast and never far from the sea. And now here at 1200m and 1/2m from the car wheels!
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Sibbaldia procumbens grows everywhere where the competition is low.
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Veronica alpina with nice but sadly very small blue flowers.
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Red campion (Silene dioica) is as common up here as it is along the coast.
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Purple gentian (Gentiana purpurea) is very common along this road and hundreds of plants grow at the road shoulder.
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I think thrift is sometimes spread during gritting. A common roadside "weed" around our area is early scurvey grass, Cochlearia danica.
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Eremocarpos (Croton) setigerus, and Centaurea solstitialis are commonly seen roadside weeds at this time of year (lower foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains). ;D
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Years ago when visiting my parents at Christmas we saw a patch of white flowers at the side of the road. On investigation they turned out to be an ixia - possibly Ixia polystachya.
Today we saw that the patch had grown - possibly because the area had been ploughed-up a few years ago which would've spread the corms and seeds!
These pics were taken with the phone so not the best :-\
cheers
fermi