FLOWER FRIDAY - IF YOU ONLY KNEW.....

…..the aggravation I had taking this shot!  Mr. HCB was out very early, as usual, and had decided that today he was going to mow the lawn.  Perhaps the fact that I had told him yesterday that a Blip friend is visiting next week has spurred him on! 

However, I had seen this little flower in the grass, which we think is a type of dandelion, and had ear-marked it not only for Flower Friday, but also to go in the Wild Flower challenge, so was told, in no uncertain terms, that if I wanted to photograph it, then I needed to get it done quickly!

For your information, the dandelion is a common perennial herb and is part of the sunflower family - there many in our garden and on the bank outside our fence, so they seed into our lawn and are quite difficult to get rid of.  Apparently, the name dandelion is taken from a French word “dent de lion”, which means "lion’s tooth", which refers to the coarsely-toothed leaves.  I also found out that the seeds can develop without cross-fertilisation, so a flower can actually fertilise itself. Therefore, it can disperse its seeds as early as the day after the flower opens.

I didn’t want to take the shot of this dandelion from above, but it was very hard for me to get down on the grass with my knee issues. However, Mr. HCB said that if I got down, then he would help me to get up - brave man - but I think he just wanted me out of the way so that he could get mowing.

The grass was quite scratchy and uncomfortable and I tried this way and that, but each time I went indoors and put the photographs onto my computer screen, I didn’t like them, so back out I went - but the sun was getting higher and I was getting hotter and hotter and more and more ratty.

At last I got the shot I wanted, which shows the dandelion flower, the seed head, and a “naked” seed head - and if you look closely, there is even a little bud.  The “bokeh” (background) is the state of our lawn, if you can call it that - it is more like rough ground with dead grass all around, but hopefully, once the rain comes, it will soon “green up”.  

We had a lovely day yesterday with our friend, Heidi, when we went to meet her at Cirencester, where she was staying in her camper van.  Mr. HCB thought he knew the way (typical man) and when we contacted Heidi and she said it was near the cricket ground, he was over confident he knew exactly where he was going.  When we reached the POLO ground, he did admit that perhaps he was wrong!!  

But all’s well that ends well and we eventually met Heidi;  we had a lovely walk in Cirencester Park, where we enjoyed a coffee together and then went back to her camper van where we had a pizza, cooked in a mobile wood-fired pizza oven, by a lovely couple, who go round lots of different camp sites - it was delicious!  A lovely day, so thank you, Heidi!

Happy Friday everyone!

“Wildflowers aren't meant 
     to be cut and tamed. 
They're meant to be 
     loved and admired.” 
Anthony T. Hincks

P.S.  Thank you for all your lovely comments yesterday - sorry I didn't respond or comment back - but we were out until rather late with Heidi.