TINY TUESDAY - AGROSTEMMA GITHAGO

After my busy day yesterday, I had a lovely lie-in this morning and didn’t wake up until after 9 o’clock, so decided to get up and have a leisurely breakfast.  I knew that Mr. HCB had gone out walking with his friend, so was very surprised when I heard his voice downstairs.  Apparently, his friend had sent him a text last night, which Mr. HCB never received, to say he couldn’t make it this morning, so Mr. HCB had come back home - so that was my leisurely breakfast scuppered!

We sat and chatted for a while then I decided to have a wander around the garden to see what I could find for Tiny Tuesday.  In our wild flower bed I spotted a couple of Cornflowers still blooming - the ones our friend brought back from Monet’s garden in France, so took a quick photograph of them, but this little wildflower caught my eye, nestled down amongst the other plants.

I have an app on my phone which recognises plants, so when I looked it up, and remembering that we had scattered some wild flower seeds in that bed sometime ago, I found it was a common Corn-cockle - with the wonderful name of Agrostemma githago.  I also  found out that this “herbaceous, attractive, but short-lived annual summer-flowering plant is in the pink and carnation family Caryophyllaceae, and was once a common weed on arable farmland, but has become virtually extinct in the wild due to modern farming practices and chemical use.”  

Well, I have to say, I’m not bothered that it’s a weed and we will be leaving it to “bloom and grow” in this bed along with the other wild flower plants, so that we can enjoy them all and know that we have “done our bit” to help the environment.

I have made a collage, which I have put in as an extra to show the Cornflower and also a little slug enjoying a munch on one of our Polyanthus flowers and it is quite tiny - no wonder some of other Polyanthus flowers look very holey and now we know why.

The sun has just about managed to put in an appearance, so it is quite warm in our conservatory, so before my dental appointment this afternoon, we might even sit out there and have another chat over lunch.

I thought this was a lovely quote about wildflowers:

“Wildflowers are the loveliest of all because 
     they grow in uncultivated soil, 
          in those hard, rugged places 
               where no-one expects them to flourish. 
They are resilient in ways 
     a garden bloom could never be. 
People are the same - 
     the most exquisite souls are those 
          who survive where others cannot;
they root themselves, 
     along with their companions, 
          wherever they are, and they thrive.”
Micheline Ryckman : The Maiden Ship


P.S.  Typical of me, I have just looked up the theme for today's TT challenge and it is "Black and White" - but how could I possibly change this beautiful little flower into something it's not?