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I've always called red campion 'ragged robin' - what do you call it?  Interesting that there are separate male flowers and female flowers... 

We have celandine which grow in the shady grass under our apple tree.  They look so pretty, we don't cut that part of the lawn till they're finished.  I first saw celandines when we used to visit my cousins who lived in the little village of Wiseton in North Notts.  There was a canal running by the farm and the bank was smothered in the yellow flowers

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This is the first posting of the cards in the pre-war Players set of motor cars. Not every member is a car buff, so I will be interspersing cards of different subjects to try and please others. The in

As someone with a passing interest in classic cars, I knew little about the Salmson apart from the name, so have just been informed by Mr Google that only about 15 of the model shown were made and therefore  quite a rarity for being on ciggy cards.

Thanks for that Chulla, now know something of which I was unaware of 10 minutes ago!

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Salmson was one of those companies that manufactured aero-engines  - a sign of a quality engineering. Others, of course, were Rolls-Royce, Bristol, Alvis, Armstrong Siddeley, Wolseley, Napier and Bentley.

   Have to admit, I cannot remember seeing one of those streamline Rovers.

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Nice flower pictures, Chulla.  I've learnt something from the info on the bluebell....  I knew the stems were slimy inside but I never knew the slime was used long ago as a glue to stick feathers on arrows.  

If I'm out walking with the grandchildren and see the larger bindweed, we always have to pick a few flowers and stalks and make them into 'ladies'.   (You turn the flower upside down so it looks like a dress, them poke a separate piece of stem from one side to the other to make the arms.  There you have it - a lady in a white dress with a green cap on her head). My mum showed me how to do it over 70 years ago!   

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Cars_p16.jpg

 

I must say I like the look of the Singer Le Mans, with its leather straps holding down the bonnet. Better than an MG. A chap who lived near us when I was young, Mr Charlton, had one of those SS Jaguars.

 

Flowers_3.jpg

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The thrift flower is called this name I suppose as it can survive on very little - poor soil and sometimes seemingly no soil in cracks of rocks.  It makes the most of what it does obtain, probably not wasting anything.  Perhaps a moral for us too?

I used to called toadflax 'eggs and bacon'   Did you?

I have 'valerian' growing in my garden - it keeps trying to take over but I keep it in check (mostly). I've always called it 'Aunt Betsy'  but maybe others have a different name for it?  Before we moved to Cambs - over 40 years ago - I had never come across it, so it obviously wasn't in my parents' garden..

 

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So maybe I'm mistaken about 'eggs and bacon' being toadflax...... now you've said 'birds foot trefoil,' that does sound more familiar.  

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I'm only familiar with the blue cornflower which used to occasionally appear in the garden of our last house.  I suppose that these days, steps are taken to prevent flowers growing in the actual cornfields, although they will still be seen in meadows?

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Thank you for adding the wild flower cards to your posts Chulla, I do enjoy them. Like Margie I only recognise the corn flower.  We see them occasionally on one of our country lane cycle routes. The unmistakable blue  will stand out and attract our attention as we wizz by. I have noticed that the particular clump is getting smaller and harder to spot.

 

Looking for wild flowers is  a hobby that I have kept since childhood. Mum seemed to know the names of so many varieties and taught us on our many country walks over the fields and up Gedling Woods. One thing that I have noticed this last few years, is that some councils have been filling  islands and verges with wild flower seeds. They can look quite spectacular when they all bloom.

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2 hours ago, MargieH said:

I'm only familiar with the blue cornflower which used to occasionally appear in the garden of our last house.  I suppose that these days, steps are taken to prevent flowers growing in the actual cornfields, although they will still be seen in meadows?

I’m pleased to say that we do have a meadow. It’s not been grazed for some years and it’s possibly time it was. It was taken out of agricultural use quite some years ago and was seeded with a grass and clover mix. We have deliberately avoided adding any wildflower seeds so what comes up each year is totally indigenous. We do have a wealth of wildflowers including orchids and it’s fascinating to see what pops up. It’s also supports a large number of animals and insects. There are so few true meadows around these days, most smaller fields round here being used for the grazing of horses. We do have a queue of applicants for this! It’s good to be able to do our bit for nature and we do open it up every other year when the village has “open gardens”. We get a number of keen botanists who like to wander round and talk wildflowers. Incidently I see from the property deeds that the field was rented out to a Mr. Scrivener back in the 50’s. He could well have been a relative of Scriv from this forum.

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Well done, Ian and Phil...  I think it's reallygood to keep some fields as meadows.  Not a lot of chance here in the fens as the soul is so good for crop growing in the big fields, but there  is one man in our village who has several acres of meadow land and he, too, opens it up for 'Open Gardens' events

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We have a neighbour who is an eccentric bachelor in his 70s, more intelligent than anyone else I’ve EVER met, a retired Nottingham High School teacher and a lovely kind gentleman.  He never does anything with his garden and we’re not sure whether he actually owns a lawnmower.  Last summer his front lawn looked a real mess and while he was away another neighbour, a young chap who is always happy to help older locals, had just mown his own lawns so thought he’d do a good deed and mow the bachelors’ whilst at it.  Nothing was said for a couple of weeks, then the bachelor commented that he’d been cultivating a wild flower area on his garden but nothing seemed to be growing.  He still doesn’t realise what had gone on while he was away.  

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I’ve just found an album of 50 wild flower cards (a full set) that I collected from Brooke Bond tea packets in the 1950s.  They’re the same size as Cigarette cards.  

Many years ago I bought my Dad a framed display of ‘Cricketers’ cigarette cards, I think my brother has that now. 76_D7_A6_A4-_C0_EF-403_D-8_F9_A-8_C733_B

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