
At the beginning of 2014 I set myself a target to learn more about botany and identification. In order to do this in a more creative way I signed up to a botanical illustration course at Kew Gardens in London but have not completed as many drawings as I would have liked. However, I have managed to identify some key wild flowers and shrubs at Navasola but decided to try and see what seeded itself most easily when I prepared a patch of soil on my real rock garden. It has come up with a vivid green and grassy presence and below are some of the cheeky common garden wild flowers or weeds that have self seeded there this Spring. I now know more about my friends and foes in the garden areas of our really wild finca and will keep watching this spot.

These have also tested my botanical skills as some are so common and not in our Mediterranean Book of Wild Flowers. Thanks to other blogs such as Tramp in the Woods I have been able to identify the Common Fumitory and our dead nettle which is slightly different with leaves clasping close to the stem; a Hen Bit dead nettle. I have also sent everyone crazy on two different small white flowers. Our friend and ecologist has helped but we are still struggling on the exact species. But although both small and white there is a big difference between the two; one in the Campion family and the other in Cress was our latest judgement! Small things to make me wonder and wander around looking for and looking at!




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Alex
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That’s very cool! I wish I knew more and thought I might learn having a house and a yard but so far I’lve only learned to kill annuals annually.
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Thanks and I haven’t really done well with the plants I have planted so maybe I just let the wild ones thrive!
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Keep trying and you will be more succesful. I am still trying but some have very green fingers!
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Thanks for sharing this.
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Beautiful post – and thanks for the picture of henbit – man have I got that in my backyard and garden….but I only pull it up if it’s interfering with my other plants. I like the small flowers and I think the small beneficial wasps like them, too.
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Agree and think the wild varieties are often better for pollinators.
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Working with seeds is so fulfilling. I only made good experiences. Thanks for your post.
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Thanks for your interest too.
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My biggest problem with flower identification is the language. I know all the name in French, but I’m struggling a lot when I talk to my English friend 😀 I think using the Latin words could save me 😀
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Agree the latin can be useful as a lingua franca for Nature!
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