In Bordeaux yesterday for the finish of the Tour de France and found part of the route lined with one of my favourite trees - Tilia henryana. Suffering a bit in the heat, and not the tidiest of trees, but look at those whiskers!

We're delighted to announce the entire 16-strong judging panel for our 2026 Botanical Photographer of the Year competition! Mugshots below 👇 or check out all their biogs here: bsbi.org/take-part/ac... Then select your very best plant photos to enter into the competition: bsbi.org/take-part/ac...

That indescribable feeling of joy when you’re weeding the borders in your garden and this breathtaking marvel of nature comes to join you. Swallowtail Butterfly #Dordogne

That indescribable feeling of joy when you’re weeding the borders in your garden and this breathtaking marvel of nature comes to join you. Swallowtail Butterfly #Dordogne

Exciting news for Field Cow-wheat in Wiltshire! Here’s Dom to tell you more… @the-wildlifetrusts.bsky.social

I visited Dundee botanical gardens a couple years back. A great collection and a lovely community atmosphere. In one afternoon I chatted to school groups, researchers, gardeners and artists. An institution well worth visiting and support

Turkish Sage (Phlomis russeliana) *just* about escaping onto a Northamptonshire street, Whittlebury. The parent plant was on the other side of the fence. This young plant seeded from that. Not sure whether I’d count it as wild, but it’s making a bid for freedom! #wildflowerhour

Flaming hot Alstroemeria to celebrate a flaming hot #Solstice

I love learning about a plant from the botany community on BlueSky and then finding it and recognising it for myself. My first Cape-jewels, easily identified thanks to @trevorthebotanist.bsky.social and @nicwilson.bsky.social and a new dot on the map for Knaresborough.

I've noticed lots of it in flower in South Cumbria / North Lancashire this week. (At home in Norfolk I normally notice Dog Rose flowers.)

Yes yes yes! In Hockley Woods last week it was spectacular, especially framed by the flittering sprites that are the Heath Fritillaries!

Has anyone else noticed that Field Rose (Rosa arvensis) is having a spectacular year (a field day perhaps)? Hedgerows here are smothered in buds & flowers like I’ve never seen before. It’s my favourite wild rose - love the white flowers against the burgundy stems & sepals @bsbibotany.bsky.social

This week’s challenge is #PollinatorPals! Find a flowering wild or naturalised plant with a pollinating visitor & snap away. Of course it’s not just about bees! Butterflies, moths, wasps, flies & beetles can be #pollinators too! Share your pics for #Wildflowerhour Sunday 8-9pm 🪲🦋🪰🐝

Out surveying old sites for Welsh Groundsel yesterday and screeched to a halt when I passed this random verge. But no… it’s the imposter… the rayed-form of Groundsel (S. vulgaris). Never seen such a large population, though, and still a very lovely thing #PlantHunting

There’s a massive bumblebee in my passionflower… honest! Shows just how big the flowers are on Passiflora ‘Diva’ 😉🐝🌱 @devonsubtropical.bsky.social

I don’t always get it right! I decided to give Ixia ‘Eos’ a go this year. It’s incredibly beautiful - a unique colour I love. But it’s also tiny (just 15cm) & I planted them in small groups in a big border. These just don’t work, so I’ll move them together into one spot for more impact next year 🌱

Opium Poppy (Papaver somniferum) on the streets, Deganwy #wildflowerhour

The eye of a Cistus 🌱 #gardening

Long day in the garden leaving dirt under the fingernails, aches-all-over and a feeling of deep satisfaction. Star of the show at the moment is the stunning Abutilon ‘Patrick Synge’ with its rich copper-orange petals veined in red and a rusty-red calyx 🌱

I cannot look at this without wanting to grab my bike and fly down that rolling, curving road into that infinite landscape of colour. Garrowby Hill by David Hockney.

First water lily of the year in our pond. It’d be enough to inspire Monet 🌱 #bloomscrolling

Excellent news!! Imagine the impact this will have on the awareness, understanding and appreciation of #NaturalHistory

Tree-mallow (Malva arborea) with its rich blackcurrant-stained blooms. RSPB Conwy @rspbcymru.bsky.social #bloomscrolling

New challenge alert!🔔 When managed sympathetically churchyards can be amazing places for wildlife! The challenge this week is to see which wild & naturalised plants you can find blooming there! Share for #wildflowerhour this Sunday 8-9pm using #ChurchyardFlowers @caringforgodsacre.bsky.social

I’m a sucker for good, strong floral scent, and Spanish Broom (Spartium junceum) has to be amongst the best. The fragrance carries far on the air and has undertones of suntan cream, always reminding me of long, hot summer holidays. Lots planted on the Cob, Conwy 🌱

Even a trip to the local recycling centre can turn botanical. Monkeyflower (Mimulus guttatus) getting a foothold beside a repurposed shipping container in Mochdre (and yes, I’ve grown up calling it Mimulus & refuse to call it by the awful new name Erythranthe 😂) #wildflowerhour

Super-vibrant Californian Poppy (Eschscholzia californica) re-seeding itself from a wildflower mix sown last year in a patch of amenity lawn, Conwy #urbanplants #wildflowerhour

Highlight of my week was urban plant hunting around Conwy with the wonderful @nicwilson.bsky.social. I set ourselves a challenge: to find a species not recorded in the town before. And voilá! Nic spotted Cape-jewels growing in a crack beside some steps. Always something new to find. #wildflowerhour

Greater Red-hot-poker (Kniphofia x praecox) becoming well naturalised on an industrial estate, Llandudno Junction. Several large, impressive plants with flowers that were proving irresistible to bumblebees #wildflowerhour #urbanplants

Welsh Groundsel (Senecio cambrensis) on the left and the radiate form of Groundsel (S. vulgaris). They often grow together so you have to be very careful with ID! I find stigmas reliable, those of vulgaris are smooth but on cambrensis they bear papillae #wildflowerhour @speciesrecovery.bsky.social

I’ve been out surveying Welsh Groundsel (Senecio cambrensis) this week for @speciesrecovery.bsky.social Glad to report numbers are well up on last year (when the spring drought killed many plants). This site had 69 plants compared to just 20 last year #wildflowerhour

Gotta love a hairy stamen. Especially when they’re blue with golden anthers. Tradescantia andersoniana 'Osprey', a new addition to the garden today 🌱

If you want to learn more about urban plants, take a look at this talk I gave to @bsbibotany.bsky.social www.youtube.com/watch?v=tCdC.... And, of course, you can purchase the book itself, available online from all good natural history and mainstream bookshops. 4/4.

I’m pleased to report the rare Willow-leaved Yellow Oxeye featured in the book that I found on my way to the barbers is still surviving, despite the tidying & herbiciding. And I’ve met many more exciting plants since then, from Red-hot Poker to Cape-jewels & Greater Quaking-grass. 3/4…

I’m also thrilled that many people have said it’s changed the way they see urban environments, looking at pavements & walls in a totally new light. From crevice-loving ferns to rapidly-spreading garden escapes, urban floras are constantly in flux, which is why they’re so exciting. 2/4…

A year ago today my book ‘Urban Plants’ was released into the wild. I could never have predicted the wonderful response it’s had, and I’m thrilled Mark Avery crowned it his ‘Book of 2025’ (markavery.info/2025/11/30/t...). If you’ve bought a copy, thank you! #UrbanPlants #UrbanGaze 1/4…

Happy Birthday to Urban Plants - a superb book, full of fascinating stories and new information about the often overlooked plants that live among us. If you've not read it yet, you're in for a treat: www.nhbs.com/urban-plants...

A year ago today my book ‘Urban Plants’ was released into the wild. I could never have predicted the wonderful response it’s had, and I’m thrilled Mark Avery crowned it his ‘Book of 2025’ (markavery.info/2025/11/30/t...). If you’ve bought a copy, thank you! #UrbanPlants #UrbanGaze 1/4…

If there was an award for ‘Most Outstanding Foliage’ in our native flora, I’d nominate Sea Kale. I just love it. Highly sculptural, succulent and steely-blue, it piles up into wonderful neat mounds like here on Deganwy beach. Oh… and it’s edible too #wildfoliagehour

I’m spitting feathers @bankofengland.bsky.social www.bbc.co.uk/news/article... Plants are the powerhouse of life, providing food, shelter, oxygen, medicine and immeasurable joy. But we’re so animal-centric we ignore them, or relegate them to mere background. What a wasted opportunity.

Have you been taking part in #NoMowMay or opting for a #NoMowSummer? The challenge this week is to show us your #LawnFlowers! No lawn? See what’s blooming in another local grassed area instead. Share your pics for #WildflowerHour this Sunday 8-9pm. Happy flower hunting! 🌸🌾🌼

Nice article in today's @theguardian.com about native wildlife on banknotes www.theguardian.com/business/202... But oh dear @bankofengland.bsky.social, why isn't there a single native plant under consideration? A few suggestions for you below + a £20 note mocked up by @trevorthebotanist.bsky.social!

We are so proud of Pete Stroh (BSBI Scientific Officer) & Helena Crouch ( #BSBICountyRecorder & #BSBItrustee)! Yesterday they were awarded the hugely prestigious 2026 Marsh Botany Award by the Marsh Charitable Trust for services to UK botany! Here's why: www.marshcharitabletrust.org/award/marsh-...

I’ve spent the day with the wonderful @nicwilson.bsky.social chatting about books & writing and exploring the urban flora of Conwy, where we both have deep roots. I raised a challenge - to find a plant new to the town - and voilà! Cape-jewels (Nemesia strumosa) in a pavement crack. A fabulous day.

Always nice to stumble across Yellow Horned-poppy (Glaucium flavum), here on Deganwy beach today. Amazing flowers, amazing leaves, amazing seed pods.

Various shades of Honeysuckle (Lonicera periclymenum) in a local hedgerow. And the poem, ‘Wild Honeysuckle’ by Philip Freneau, which holds a deeply personal meaning for me as it was one of my mum’s favourite flowers #wildflowerhour

Heath Spotted-orchid (Dactylorhiza maculata) - a constant companion beside the Welsh Coastal Path such as here near Moelfre, Ynys Môn (Anglesey). A late post for the #wildflowerhour #OrchidChallenge

Caper Spurge (Euphorbia lathyris) escaping onto a Northamptonshire field edge. The cyathium - unique to all Euphorbias - clearly visible in the centre surrounded by the leaf-like cyathophylls #wildflowerhour

I’m a climate scientist. Let me fix this headline. “Nearly a century ago, scientists showed that burning fossil fuels warms the planet. Today, we know human emissions account for over 100% of the warming. Yet dark money and disinformation still work to keep Americans addicted to fossil fuels.”

A glorious flag Iris blooming in our garden. Sadly it’s un-named (anyone have any ideas?) but it looks special and has the most wonderful fruity fragrance 🌱