The wildflowers that now grow in the old churchyard at Geldeston have been surveyed on two occasions.
From April to October 1980, the late Mrs Mary Tuppen observed and recorded 27 varieties of wildflower, growing in our churchyard. In June 2007, at the request of the Parish Council, Andrina Walmsley of the Norfolk Wildlife Trust visited Geldeston and found 15 wildflowers around St Michael’s Church.
Wandering around Bungay the other day, I saw “Beebombs” advertised in the florists. These are small hemp bags containing the seeds of 18 species of wildflower, native to Britain and “confirmed by the Royal Horticultural Society as Perfect for Pollinators” – www.Beebombs.com
Each bag, they promise, will return 21 square feet of wildflower habitat. Since the Second World War Britain has lost 97% of its wildflower habitat. There are hardly any traditional meadows left; such grassland is ploughed up and resown each year.
Not surprisingly, our churchyard contains almost all of the flowers included in such “Beebombs”.
John Crowfoot
<<24.09.2019>>
Mrs Tuppen’s list, April to October 1980
How many can you name and identify? The bees know them all …
- Bugle
- buttercup, bulbous
- buttercup, creeping
- buttercup, meadow
- Comfrey
- Corn mint
- Daisy
- Dandelion
- Dogwood Violet
- Early Scorpion grass
- Field woodrush
- Greater Field Speedwell
- Ground Ivy
- Herb Robert (aka Shining Cranesbill)
- Lesser Celandine
- Meadow Saxifrage
- Ox-eye Daisy
- Periwinkle
- Primrose
- Purging flax
- Red dead nettle
- Self-heal
- Shepherd’s Purse
- Speedwell, common
- Speedwell, Germander
- Stinging nettle
- Winter aconite
