Our 'patio party' celebration of the Queen's Platinum Jubilee at the beginning of June was a great success as friends and neighbours met, chatted, snacked and purchased plants (by donation) from our charity fundraising table for the DEC (Disasters Emergency Committee). We contributed tomato plants and herbs; a friend brought houseplants and more herbs such as comfrey and lemon balm.
Among these were some plants that she had dug up from her garden because she loved their bright colour. We duly re-potted these in good compost and later planted them in an empty spot in the front border under the hedge. They looked as if they would thrive.
Unfortunately our anonymous flower has a name - it is Orange-flowered Hawkweed (Hieracium aurantiacum) and it is a weed or a wild flower depending on your perspective. We were enlightened whilst taking a cup of tea with a friend. We went outside to inspect. Hawkweed had rooted into the mortar all over her back patio, looked pretty but was hard to eradicate. She demonstrated. My husband only needed one look - he could visualise it proliferating on ours.
We came home and the carefully tended, newly planted hawkweed went straight into our garden waste recycling bin.
The following day a juvenile Sparrowhawk with a speckled breast landed on our front hedge. I caught sight of it through the window, hailed it as a thrush until I saw the curved beak and the shape of its tail and wings. I looked it up. It 'hedge-hopped' exactly in the manner described in the bird book and then flew away.
We need experienced friends, exact observation and reliable references.
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