Primroses, ramsons and nettles
April 2022
On my dog strolls, I’ve been interested to see what wild plants are emerging. Especially as spring finds its feet, not before time as far as I’m concerned! It has to be the primrose Primula vulgaris that are front and centre through March and continue strong into April. Unsurprisingly I guess with the name prima rosa, or first flower of the year (although that’s not strictly true as the beautiful snowdrops on February’s cover show). But I can’t let those little yellow faces go unmentioned, not least because it’s Primrose Day on the 19th April, or so Richard Maybe tells us in ‘Flora Botanica’ with the botanist Sir George Birdwood apparently suggesting this after Benjamin Disraeli’s death in 1881 as the former Prime Minister had such an admiration of the flower.
I wonder if I’ve spotted a couple of the similar plant oxlips Primula elatior, which would be exciting as they are a vulnerable, near-threatened species usually confined to the area where Suffolk, Essex and Cambridgeshire meet, but I’m not entirely convinced that these are not an ornamental escapee from a garden, perhaps a local botanist can put me straight on this?
The ramsons or wild garlic Allium ursinum are getting well into leaf in the woods in the north of the village above Newbury and there's a little to be found on the road to Maiden Bradley. We like to make a pesto out of the wild garlic, freezing this in an ice cube tray is a great way to get a portion that you can easily throw into pasta or mix into a dressing for a salad, but this year I’m going to make some green garlic butter by simply beating the cleaned and shredded leaves into butter for a fresh subtle alternative to traditional garlic butter.
I’ve had a couple of passes over the nettles Urtica dioica in the garden already, picking the tips, blanching and freezing for later use in anything that we would use spinach in, I’m pretty fond of a smoothie made with any berries, fresh or frozen, a handful of greens, usually spinach but nettles in this case, milk and water then blend. I’ve also used the cooking water as a hair tonic so if you see me around the village with green hair don’t be alarmed!
According to the Natural History Museum our stinging little friends have been reported to have over 100 different insect species feeding on them alone and they are host to the red admiral Vanessa atalanta (I think I may have gone to school with her) small tortoiseshell Aglais urticae and peacock Aglais io butterflies as well as moths such as the Burnished Brass Diachrysia chrysitis, the angle shades Phlogophora meticulosa and the ruby tiger Phragmatobia fuliginosa to name just a few of the more charismatic species. And to name a few of the less charismatic species; the brilliantly named golden-bloomed grey longhorn beetle Agapanthia villosoviridescens, and Parethelcus pollinarius no funny common name I’m afraid but this little guy’s only source of food is the roots of stinging nettles, look him up, I mean if a weevil can be cute…Old longhorn’s a good looking chap too.
Talking about early flowering wild plants, another that flowered alongside the early primroses but who’s flower has now gone over is the winter heliotrope Petasites fragrans, this has a great scent and maybe presents a food supply for early pollinators, though this is an extremely invasive non-native species. Being new to the village I’m not sure about the pace of its spread where I see it on the bank along from the island, but I’m surprised, on my travels slightly further afield how quickly this is populating ground.
Just to see everything bursting into life at the moment is very exciting and I look forward to more walks and observations, maybe with a bit more sun, over the next month.
NB, remember that it’s illegal to dig up any wild plant and always make double sure that the plant is what you think it is if you’re going to eat it.
