Rain Drops are Falling

This morning it wasn't too wet just a odd light shower or two. By late afternoon it started to get a little heavier and more persistent. But sadly the rain didn't last for long.. the garden would have loved what it got as it badly needed it.

It was another lazy day for me apart from a project I am up too.. which maybe revealed in a few weeks time. That has kept me busy. Also I put a some back blips from my holiday in Queensland last July. I just kept forgetting to doing them. Still have a few more to do also.

I think this flower is a Toadflax (Linaria vulgaris) and it comes in many wonderful bright colours from purple to red. It came in a packet of wild-flower seed and seems to pop up each year making a wonderful display.


All about the Toadflax (Linaria vulgaris).
Toadflax (Linaria vulgaris) is found throughout the UK and Ireland and in most European countries including France. Italy and Slovenia as well as much of western and central Asia. In North America, Common Toadflax is an introduced alien species.

Linaria vulgaris has a long history of use in herbal remedies for a wide variety of ailments including jaundice, dropsy and enteritis. A laxative tea used to be made from the leaves of Common Toadflax, which was also the basis of ointments for various skin diseases and for treating piles. Other recorded uses include the production of insecticides, which may seem rather odd because bees and other nectar-hunting insects seem to love the flowers of Common Toadflax.

Linaria, the genus name, comes from the Latin noun Linus, meaning flax or linen. The specific epithet vulgaris means common, and in this instance it seems quite appropriate when applied to Common Toadflax; however, the same epithet is used in many genera, and in some of them the most common species has not necessarily been given the name vulgaris.
For more information on the Toadflax