One of our local bluebells - we have very few out at all yet in our valley.
My eldest daughter and I had a lovely walk along the valley last week and I took some photos of some of the wild flowers we encountered.
Bitter Vetch growing on a hedge bank.
Cuckoo Pint also known as Lady's Smock.
Flowering Wood Rush.
A happy bankful of Anemones (Windflowers to me).
A trio of ferns unrolling.
These different sorts of fiddleheads of fern can apparently be cooked - bit like asparagus - and have good levels of Vitamin C.
These I can identify - Hart's Tongue ferns.
Harvesting fiddleheads is an old tradition in New England. Occasionally you would even see them appearing briefly for sale by the pound in a natural foods market. My late mother-in-law organized the family into expeditions to pick fiddleheads along the bank of a nearby creek. We then spent hours cleaning off the papery husks, blanching and bagging them for the freezer. The trick to preparing them fresh was to steam them quickly, pour off that water, add fresh water and steam until barely tender--serve with butter, salt and pepper and a squeeze of lemon juice.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your lovely photos of all the wildflowers - there are many different ones from those we have here. I always find refreshment when I visit your blog!
ReplyDeleteI love to see ferns unfolding - they look really ancient, don't they! At last, I have some bluebells flowering - albeit in a sheltered spot against the wall, but I'm sure the others won't be far behind them!
ReplyDeletewillow x
Just what was needed Jennie - there's a flowering grass/rush type thing down by the river and I've been wondering what it is - the answer is flowering wood rush! Can't believe you have ladies smock flowering already,I've always known them as Mayflowers because up here in the frozen north that's when they flower:)
ReplyDeletei have an american cook book with ideas of how to use fiddleheads!
ReplyDeletethe bluebells in my mums very wild garden are just coming up and so will flower soon