This striking poppy is still blooming on the bank of the watermeadow. I think it has come from some wildflower seeds, but it isn’t a native flower (obvious from its name!). The flowers have four delicate petals of a gorgeous apricot colour, distinct from the Welsh Poppy, which is on the primrose end of the spectrum. The feathery foliage is blue-green, but you can’t see it in the picture, because the brambles got in the way. It is either a perennial or annual, that is, it can survive a mild winter, but will die if the climate is harsh.
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Brambles (Rubus fruticosus)
Sometimes, when you’re looking for something new, you see something that’s been there all along. Brambles are an example, they are rambling through the bank (above the Fernery), and we don’t really like their tenacity, but they are underpinning and fixing the other plants in place, which is good for helping to prevent the bank eroding. We used to have eight pampas grasses on the bank and the brambles wove around them in a tangled mess, but we removed the pampas grasses last summer and in the craters that were left behind we planted a silver birch and a mountain ash and let the bank itself fill in the gaps. It did this fairly quickly with grasses, ferns, and flowers. The brambles could have taken over but haven’t so far and a nice balance has been struck. We’re aware that this happy situation may not last though as brambles are prolific at sending out runners, which touch down, grow roots, and pop up a new plant.