Bog Myrtle, Sweet Gale, Myrica Gale in early September Bog myrtle thrives at Foulshaw Moss with shrubs mingling with heather beside the board-walk and spreading out across the raised mire. It's a fragrant plant and I love it especially in early April when its bare twigs are reddish-brown and its catkins burst into flower. When snow covers the fells Bog myrtle shrubs are still visible in boggy watershed zones and if deer and sheep browse on the plant you can see the tips of its branches nipped off. Its catkins are exquisite and they flower so early. I made April pilgrimages to find Bog Myrtle catkins. I should have given attention to late summer and early autumn.
Once-upon-a-time, some time in the last MIllenium, I stepped out of a car in Ireland and was struck by rosy-orange catkins on low shrubs growing in a waterlogged ditch.
My records begin in April on a boggy watershed near Watendlath. Bog Myrtle grows here in profusion and in 2010 I went there early in the year and kept returning, intent on seeing the shrub with catkins in flower. I found the plant growing on the edge of a frozen tarn and photographed catkin buds against a foil of ice. Then came upon shrubs with beautiful catkins.
My records begin in April on a boggy watershed near Watendlath. Bog Myrtle grows here in profusion and in 2010 I went there early in the year and kept returning, intent on seeing the shrub with catkins in flower. I found the plant growing on the edge of a frozen tarn and photographed catkin buds against a foil of ice. Then came upon shrubs with beautiful catkins.
Early September is a beautiful season and peat bog flora takes on russet and rosy tinges of autumn foliage. Flecks of colour can be beguiling and mysterious and in a weave of foliage it isn't always clear which strand belongs to which plant. Amongst Bog Myrtle leaves were what looked like small yellowish flowers but I knew the catkins appeared early in April. As we followed the boardwalk we found more. It's the fruit and I cannot have been here at this season or I'd have known that. Marjorie Blamey, Flora Britannica, calls the fruit a dry, flattened nut. The RHS speaks of small yellow-brown berries- there are different species of Myrtle however. So, here below is what we discovered. We'll have to return to see how these fruit develop through the autumn.
The first week In September has been exceptionally hot but today the skies are overcast so the light is more subdued and, as a photographer, I welcome that. I had thought we'd see dragonflies and damselflies settled on the boardwalk but there are few. Bog Myrtle catkins flower early in April but the catkin buds are fully formed in late summer and overwinter in readiness for the coming of spring. So we see reddish catkin buds whilst the leaves are still green
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