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Vocapedia > Earth > Wildlife > Flowers, Flora

 

 

 

Cherry trees bloom

during the National Cherry Blossom Festival

along the Tidal Basin in Washington April 2, 2011.

 

Photograph:

Jonathan Ernst/Reuters

 

Boston Globe > Big Picture > Flower Power        April 6, 2011

http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2011/04/flower_power.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

photosynthesis        USA

 

http://www.npr.org/sections/13.7/2017/06/02/
531262435/the-extended-beauty-of-photosynthesis

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

the British flora

 

 

 

 

British wild plants        UK

http://www.guardian.co.uk/quiz/questions/0,5961,1479906,00.html

 

 

 

 

stinging nettles        UK

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/
court_and_social/article5385746.ece - broken link

 

 

 

 

flower / flower        USA
 

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/17/
opinion/our-vanishing-flowers.html

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/08/
science/08flower.html

 

 

 

 

sunflower        USA

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/05/
science/how-sunflowers-follow-the-sun-day-after-day.html

 

 

 

 

spring flowers

 

 

 

 

desert wildflowers > USA > Death Valley, Calif.        USA

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/02/24/
467977309/death-valleys-harsh-desert-blanketed-with-wildflower-super-bloom

 

 

 

 

Celsea flower show        UK        2016

http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2016/may/24/
the-best-of-the-chelsea-flower-show

http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/gallery/2016/may/23/
chelsea-flower-show-preview-in-pictures

 

 

 

 

Picture perfect: a visual tour of the Chelsea Flower Show        UK        2015

http://www.theguardian.com/news/ng-interactive/2015/may/22/
picture-perfect-a-visual-tour-of-the-chelsea-flower-show

 

 

 

 

Chelsea flower show 2014 – in pictures        UK        20 May 2014

 

Guardian photographer Linda Nylind

captures the colour and shapes

at the Chelsea flower show in London

http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/gallery/2014/may/20/
chelsea-flower-show-2014-in-pictures

 

 

 

 

Chelsea Flower Show        UK        2012

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2012/may/21/
chelsea-flower-show-magical-tower-garden

 

 

 

 

Chelsea Flower Show        UK        2010

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2010/may/30/
dan-pearson-chelsea-flower-show2010

 

 

 

 

Chelsea Flower Show        UK

http://www.theguardian.com/gall/0,,1781408,00.html 

http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2005/may/24/1 

 

 

 

 

botanist        UK

 

 

 

 

bloom

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/mar/17/
daffodils-winter-spring-weather

 

 

 

 

blossom        UK

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/gallery/2010/apr/29/
readers-spring-blossom

 

 

 

 

Fritillaria meleagris / snakeshead fritillary / Frawcups, lepeper's bells, minety bell        UK

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/gardening-blog/2013/apr/26/
snakeshead-fritillary

 

 

 

 

bluebell        UK

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2013/apr/19/
bluebell-woods-under-threat

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/jun/03/
germaine-greer-bluebells-dogs

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/blog/2011/apr/01/
green-shoots-bluebells

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/may/13/
bluebells-britain-beauty-praise-summer

 

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2006/may/03/
conservationandendangeredspecies.uknews1 

 

 

 

 

honeysuckle

 

 

 

 

mistletoe        UK

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2008/dec/09/
plants-christmas

 

 

 

 

marigold

 

 

 

 

dandelion        UK

http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2016/may/01/
let-dandelions-have-their-day-in-the-sun

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2009/jun/01/
dandelions-gardens

 

 

 

 

love-in-a-mist

 

 

 

 

thistle        UK

http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2014/jul/27/
gardens-thistles-dan-pearson

 

 

 

 

primrose        UK

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/jun/02/
flower-birds-eye-primrose-widdybank-fell-teesdale-country-diary

 

 

 

 

daffodil        UK

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/gardening-blog/2010/oct/20/
why-i-hate-daffodils
 

ttp://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/mar/17/
daffodils-winter-spring-weather

 

 

 

 

snowdrop        UK

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/blog/2010/feb/23/
spring-photos-flickr

 

 

 

 

orchid        UK

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/may/22/
rare-orchid-blooms-at-sewage-works

 

 

 

 

ochid        USA

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/26/
arts/design/orchidelirium-explodes-with-color-
at-new-york-botanical-garden.html

 

http://www.npr.org/2015/11/10/
455510053/scientists-work-with-cuba-to-bring-lost-orchids-
back-to-florida-state-park

 

 

 

 

Britain's rarest flower, Lady's Slipper orchid        UK        2010

http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/nature/
britains-rarest-flower-given-roundtheclock-police-protection-1965606.html

http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/
commentators/michael-mccarthy-return-of-the-native-
the-great-secret-of-20thcentury-botany-1965607.html

http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/leading-articles/
leading-article-flower-power-1965474.html

 

 

 

 

hedgerow / red campion        UK

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/jun/01/
red-campions-hedgerow-silene-dioica-country-diary

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

central dome

 

 

 

 

floret

 

 

 

 

spiky ruff

 

 

 

 

collar of bracts

 

 

 

 

smell

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Beloved Wife

Lives On in Memory,

Through Roses

 

June 11, 2006

The New York Times

By J. COURTNEY SULLIVAN

 

In the late 1980's, Nancy and Gene Bliska added three rosebushes to their small backyard garden in Greenwich, Conn. On sunny days, they spent hours tending to the roses; on rainy ones, poring over the Jackson & Perkins catalog for new varieties.

The next spring they planted a few more rosebushes, and the following year even more. Soon they had 12 flourishing bushes, the centerpiece of the garden, and Ms. Bliska's joy.

But as the roses were flourishing, Ms. Bliska was fading. In 1990, after 28 years of marriage, half of them spent battling breast cancer, she died at age 54.

At first, Mr. Bliska couldn't bear to look at the garden. But then a year passed, and spring arrived, and the roses came to represent "the renewal of life," as he put it. He joined the Westchester County Rose Society (of which he has been president for the last five years), became a certified rosarian, and devoted himself to filling the land behind their house with roses and other perennials.

It now has 1,400 rose plants on more than two acres. The American Rose Society says it is the largest private rose collection in New York, Connecticut and New Jersey.

This weekend, Mr. Bliska opens the garden to the public, as he has for one weekend each year since 1996. Visitors can stroll the grounds and buy rosebushes donated by the Jackson & Perkins Company. Admission is free, but donations benefit the American Cancer Society's breast cancer research programs. Over the past decade, more than 11,000 people have toured the gardens and contributed more than $40,000.

"This garden is my way of celebrating Nancy," Mr. Bliska said. "I truly believe that these roses keep her memory alive."

There are 32 rose beds, 30 different classifications of roses and 100 varieties of perennials, all tended by Mr. Bliska himself with the help of a part-time gardener.

He estimates that he spends four hours a day in the garden. For three solid weeks in March, Mr. Bliska, a part-time sales manager for PepsiCo, pruned each rose to its classification. ("A hybrid tea rose gets pruned differently than a shrub rose," he explains.) After last week's storms, he and the gardener removed the raindrops from each petal by hand. ("They don't like having to sit there getting wet.")

His wife, who was a secretary and left behind a son and a daughter, was especially fond of the yellow roses.

"Nancy turned to me one morning and said she thought it was a shame for us to keep all that beauty to ourselves," said Mr. Bliska, 72. "She had a real passion for arranging roses, and I used to tell her: 'You should enter competitions. You could win prizes.' "

Instead, every Saturday, she created enormous bouquets, and took them to the two nursing homes up the road.

"She believed in helping people," Mr. Bliska said. "She was involved in our church and our community right up until the end, even when she felt sick."

The Nancy Bliska Memorial Rose Garden, at 91 Stonehedge Drive North — also called Rose Acres — will be open to the public today from noon to 7 p.m. "I think of my wife whenever I'm out there," Mr. Bliska said. "Tending our roses is my way of communicating with her."

A Beloved Wife Lives On in Memory, Through Roses,
NYT,
11.6.2006,
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/11/nyregion/11roses.html

 

 

 

 

 

The vanishing flowers of Britain:

one in five species faces extinction

 

09 May 2005
The Independent
By Michael McCarthy,
Environment Editor

 

One in five of Britain's wild flower species is threatened with extinction, according to the most detailed analysis to date of the British flora.

The total is far higher than previously thought and has shocked the team of senior botanists who discovered it through a two-year intensive survey of all of Britain's 1,756 native plant species.

The survey, published today, paints a completely new picture of the conservation status of Britain's wild flowers, listing no fewer than 345 of them - or 19.6 per cent - as "critically endangered", "endangered" or "vulnerable to extinction", according to internationally recognised criteria.

Britain has always had great rarities in its flora, such as the lady's slipper orchid. But the survey's most startling finding is that our threatened species now include nearly 80 that are familiar and widespread and have never been listed as being at risk, such as the corn buttercup, field gromwell, yellow bird's nest and English eyebright, pictured.

All of these flowers may still be found in at least 100 locations across Britain. Yet, in fact, they are in headlong decline, undocumented until now.

In the past 40 years, the survey shows, the corn buttercup has declined by more than 80 per cent, corn chamomile by more than 70 per cent, and field gromwell and yellow bird's nest by 65 per cent each.

It is this picture of massive decline in flowers which are not yet actually considered rare which has been highlighted by the survey, The Vascular Plant Red Data List for Great Britain, produced by a partnership of some of Britain's leading conservation bodies.

The pattern has been found in no fewer than 78 species which are now designated as threatened with extinction in Britain.

The findings mean that priorities for conserving Britain's wild flowers in future will need to be reordered, with more concern for commonplace plants in the fields of the wider countryside outside protected areas - the ones that are really at risk.

"We had no idea that some of these declines were as bad as they are and we were very shocked to discover them," said Dr Trevor Dines, of the wild flower conservation charity, Plantlife, and one of the authors of the survey.

The Red Data List project has been made possible by the interlinking of two great mapping surveys of Britain's wild flowers, made 40 years apart. The first was The Atlas of the British Flora, published in 1962, which displayed the distribution of our wild plants on a grid of 10km squares imposed on the map of Britain.

If a plant occurred in fewer than 15 squares, it was considered "rare"; in fewer than 100 squares, it was considered "scarce".

In 2002 a successor volume, The New Atlas of the British Flora, was published which showed not only where plants occur but where they have disappeared from locations in the earlier atlas.

So the corn buttercup, for example, was shown as occurring in 157 grid squares in 2002 - but it had occurred in 672 grid squares 40 years earlier.

As it was still in more than 100 grid squares it was considered neither "rare" nor "scarce" by the old criteria - but it was clearly undergoing a catastrophic decline, and needed to be flagged up as a species at great risk. Its rate of decline means it has now been listed as "critically endangered".

 

 

 

* Cheffings, CM and Farrell, L (eds): 'The Vascular Plant Red Data List for Great Britain', Joint Nature Conservation Committee, Peterborough

 

On the endangered list

* Corn buttercup Ranunculus arvensis

Red Data List status: Critically endangered

An attractive annual buttercup with small yellow flowers, a weed of crop fields, which has undergone an astonishing decline of 81 per cent, mostly in the past 30 years. Introduced into Britain by Roman farmers, along with opium poppies, peas and beans.

* Purple milk-vetch Astragalus danicus

Red Data List status: Endangered

A small perennial herb of short, unimproved turf on well-drained calcareous soils, mostly on chalk and limestone, and also on sand dunes. Down by 51 per cent. It has declined largely because of agricultural improvement or lack of grazing.

* Lesser butterfly orchid Platanthera bifolia

Red Data List status: Vulnerable

A well-loved orchid that grows in a wide range of usually poor soils, including heathy pastures, grassland, open scrub, woodland edges and rides, and on moorland. It has disappeared from 64 per cent of grid squares in recent decades.

* English eyebright Euphrasia anglica

Red Data List status: Endangered

Eyebrights are small annuals of unimproved grassy habitats, with 23 species in Britain. This particular one grows in tightly grazed acidic grassland, heath-land and moors and is down by 62 per cent. Compresses from eyebrights were once used to treat eye disorders.

* Prickly Poppy Papaver argemone

Red Data List status: Vulnerable

A small, brightly coloured poppy which often has black marks at the base of its petals. It has declined by 61 per cent. A species of traditional arable fields that has not yet made the jump to waysides and road verges as the common poppy has.

Field Gentian Gentianella campestris

Red Data List status: Vulnerable

A biennial or annual herb with attractive purply blue flowers, found in pastures, hill grassland, grassy heaths, sand dunes, machair and road verges. Locally common in northern England and Scotland, but absent from most of south and central Britain. Gone from 57 per cent of grid squares in recent decades.

The vanishing flowers of Britain: one in five species faces extinction,
IoS,
9.5.2005,
http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/environment/story.jsp?story=636855

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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