Hyssop - an invasive plant

So when taking photos of the Common Sage I came across a similar looking plant.

After some search in various books in a book store by rapid leafing through them and noting the possible names mentally I made another search online and finally found the name of the similar plant:
It's a Hyssop (in German: Ysop )

This plant is rather new to our region, but due to the climatic changes with milder winters and hotter (and dryer) Summers it feels "at home" here now too. It has been cultivate in more Southern and Eastern regions as early as the 16th century.

Here the photos I took:

And finally as a sort of reminder the "Common Sage" (Wiesensalbei), so they don't get mixed up (although both have their leaves used as a flavoring herb):

Lady's Mantle

It's a herb with tiny green / yellow flowers that gets used as tea from the parts above the ground to relieve monthly cramps and after menopause in women.
For more information on this go to:  Frauenmantel (Lady's mantle - The English wiki page is mainly list of of them with no photos).

I have one growing wild in my garden; didn't plant it but letting it grow in my grass. And it seems to be spreading as time passes.
Here two examples I found in the internet:
Alchemilla mollis
Alchemilla monticola
Both are close but are not quite the plant I have.

The specialty of mine is the "lotus" effect of the leaves. So nice photos. ;)

Here a photo of the full plant growing next to the palm tree:

Suddenly there were flowers over the leaves!

Same plant three days later! 

And a close up of the flowers:

Single flowers look more green with a tiny bit of yellow leaves.

As group they look yellow!

A new plant - but the grass needs cutting and it will get cut too :(

Some more smaller plants - those at the pedestal can stay!!

The Iris

Once upon a time there was an Iris growing in the garden. (And had been called a Lily all the time)
It had been planted by an elderly lady. Just one tuber she had been given as she loved flowers so much.
It was said she had a green thumb. The Iris flourished and grew.
But he lady had to abandon the Iris. The house in which she lived and to which the garden belonged was sold to a different owner. One, that wanted to move into the house himself.
She took some of her favorite plants along. Even dug up the Iris and took it with her.
But she must have forgotten a part of the tuber in the ground.
Form this, the Iris grew again - spreading now even better than before as all the other concurring plants and flowers that had been growing so close to it had been removed. Only grass now growing in its vicinity.
For a few years it could grow as it pleased.

The Iris is showing it's leaves in Spring 2008, left-hand side  just below the wall of plant pots.

But then it happened. It was in the way of the new owner. After so many years (13 actually)!! Flowering only a short time in the year and otherwise only big leaves covering all the grass at that spot. It had to go! And it went - into a bucket:

Early Spring 2012 - an Iris tuber heap!!

Feeling sorry for this beautiful plant another woman, that loves flowers just as much and has seemingly a green thumb too, took the tubers - some still connected with each other - and placed them around the garden where they surely would not be in the way of the grass (and mower).

And waited what would happen. At first, it looked as if they would suffer and die. But after some time the leaves grew. =)

And then even buds and flowers showed.

Now it's not just one Iris patch but quite a few, in full sun as well as in shade. And all are having flowers!!

just budding

and now flowers a few days later!!

Just 4 years passed!!

I can't find the photo, were the original plant is in full flower, I took one or two years ago  - will add as soon as I find it. It might be still on my old computer ^^;; 

Now I'll watch to see how they make it through the next winter and if they will grow even more and stronger than before!! 

Salvia pratensis (Common Sage) - Wiesensalbei

With a keen eye I can spot lots of healthy herb plants growing wild where I live.
But to actually pick them and use them I have to be quick.
They get cut down so fast for the "neat" look of the grass, or for silage food in preparation for the winter.

This one is:

Salvia pratensis (Meadow Sage; in German: Wiesensalbei )

This plant is about 75cm high!!

Same plant - closer look at the leaves

I took this photo of a wild growing one at the train station. It can be used for flavoring food like with the
Salvia officinalis (Garden Sage - the leaves have a grey touch to them; in German: Echter Salbei).
This also gets used for infections in the throat area - but should be used sparingly. Over-dosage is toxic.

Not to be mixed up with this plant:

Sorry, don't know the name of this one -- maybe someone can tell me??!!

Same color and size -- but different flowers (first red than turning to purple) and leaves growing all along the flower stem. The leaves of the Sage plant are on the ground.

A weed?!

OK, I love to draw flowers.

This one I already have done some time ago:

It's actually a rather small wild, growing flower - both at the wood edges and in any barren parts where Dandelions don't grow. I had seen it growing on a stone pile much larger than the one I draw. At the time then I did not yet have the use of a photo camera - So I had drawn it from my mind after looking at it for some time.

This week on my way home from work I came across this plant growing next to a concrete wall. And, as it has become my habit, I had now a photo camera along and took a few shots.
Here the photo of this flower:

Spring turns to Summer

Indeed it was a cold Spring with all the plants seemingly holding back.

But for a few days (after a tiny bit of rain too) it got Summer warm within two days. Now all flowers seem to hurry to bloom. Here a few impressions of them:

25th April 2012

30th April 2012

lots of daisies instead of grass

daises and another tiny flower

more tiny flowers and lots of green grass

 

This last photo I took this morning at the train station. The late cherries are finally in flower too, but the walnut (I think it is a walnut) tree in the back still has no leaves.And all over the fields you can see green grass (finally) and common dandelions (Taraxacum officinale).

As to the creek: although we had rain and it seemed to have filled up a bit - this morning I was so surprised to see parts (sidearms) nearly dry and other parts really low. As if it was late Summer. See if I can get photos of it and post them too. (as an update).

 

Awesome tree and tiny caves

These recent early spring days I took the chance of the splendid weather, and having a bit of free time, to walk around the woods around my home with my daughter.

We had a lot of fun walking together. And we took photos too.

Here some of them:

This is one of the first flowers to bloom; growing very, very close to the water. It belongs to the family of  Ranunculaceae. There even was a patch of them growing right in the middle of the little creek!

Along the path some of these stone piles could be seen. This one in particular was in a dip of the path (on the left side of the photo). During winter, this stone pile is the only way to know you are still on the right path and not walking cross country through the wood. And there are some places where going off the path could end you up at the edge of a steep ravine or at the top of a big block of rock with no way down. 

Stone piles like these can be found all over the world: in the European Alps, in barren areas with no good landmarks; even seen them in Australia.The origin and meaning varies from landmarks, piles that are used to store food and other important hings below them or some cultural and religious uses. The ones in the woods around here were done by passing persons for fun. Some have become path markers. But I think most are there just because people had seen and heard something vague about them and just add another stone to mark that they too had passed the pile. And, yes, I do remember that when I had seen such piles in the Alps during a vacation hike there many years ago I too added a stone to a pile while taking a pause to look around the awesome landscape there! ^^; 

We walked along this little creek right to the spring. Here an impression of the creek (taken in January BEFORE the snow and ice had come and passed away) as it is flowing over the rocks. It's a well visited tourist path; especially on weekends. Even now it still looked this way - no spring flowers there yet - only greener grass and moss.

When we finally reached the spring we looked at the place it came out of the rocks. Maybe there is a cave there? So hard to see in the dark and below the rock. So I used the flashlight of my camera to take a photo of what lies in the dark. 

Well, no cave there. Not one that a human could crawl into! But the water does find the way out right there.

The next day we went into the opposite direction.
All around there were also lots of rocks and "cliffs" with openings close to the ground. Again I used the flashlight to see beyond the area that was in daylight. But there was no water at all.

 

Well, there is nothing much there. Unless you are a mouse or a spider maybe.Or, if you're skinny and small you can use them as sleeping areas: about 1m * 1.5m * 0.5m of space.

On our way back home we passed an odd looking tree:

It had been cut at the top some long time ago. Then it regrew and had been cut again at the sides. But still this tree lives on - sprouting new limbs over and over again. Now this area is under nature protection. No more cutting of trees - unless they are so damaged (and hollow) that they would collapse onto the hiking paths for the tourists.

The "ancient" left over tree top is about my height; and we tried to climb up on it. To sit or lie on the strong horizontal limb to bath in the afternoon sun that was slowly being covered by hazy clouds again. (We didn't make it up as we kept slipping of the sides with our sneakers - barefooted we might have had a better chance. But we also didn't try very hard.)

And here a zoomed in view of the landscape across from the hill with clifff we were on today: 

I'm looking forward to the days when spring is fully here. 

With sunshine and warm air; and birds and insects all around; and green and flowers sprouting everywhere.

And I will take my camera along to make photos and share them with you. Nature is soooo beautiful, you just need to go out with open eyes and see and feel it.