Hopefully, you’ve had the opportunity to experience one of our great natural spectacles: a bluebell wood in spring. But, if you’re not lucky enough to have a bluebell wood on your doorstep, don’t be downhearted; other less obvious, but equally delightful, blue flowers are likely to be growing close by, and late spring is the best season in which to find them.

I recently found a delightful sprinkling of floral sapphires in my own garden! These are all members of the speedwell family, a group of trailing plants common throughout Essex, which have delicate, four-petalled flowers, mostly in varying shades of blue, from palest baby all the way through to vibrant mazarine. Three of the species I found here in north-west Essex are native British wildflowers, whilst the other was introduced in the early 20^th century.

Let’s start with the most striking member of the family; the germander speedwell (Veronica chamaedrys). This plucky little plant has cobalt-blue flowers, each with a striking white centre and protruding stamens. They grow in small clusters, held aloft at the ends of their trailing stems. Despite its diminutive size, it’s really unmissable on sunny days, sparkling like undiscovered gemstones from between the fresh, green blades of grass of an uncut lawn. I find it most frequently growing under trees, along hedge lines and next to paths. Today, mine were growing in the edge of the front lawn. “Germander” is said to be derived from Old English words meaning “leaves like the oak”, though I confess that they don’t look much like oak leaves to me!

My next find was rather less obvious, with much smaller flowers, and so took a bit more searching out. Also growing in the lawn, but this time right in the middle, where the grass had been more recently cut and so a little shorter, it appears, at first glance, to have small spikes of diminutive, white flowers. However, a close look shows that these are, in fact, the palest blue, marked with vertical, indigo stripes on the upper petal. 

Very intricately patterned for such a small flower, this is the thyme-leaved speedwell (Veronica serpyllifolia), which holds its tightly budded flower stalks, just 2 or 3 cm tall, boldly erect between the blades of grass. It seems to like drier patches of the lawn than its cousins, the germanders. 

A little farther off, under an apple tree, I found my first non-native speedwell. This one has several different common names, including slender, creeping or round-leaved (Veronica filiformis) and was introduced to the UK from Eastern Europe in 1925 as a rockery plant. It soon escaped from the flower borders and is now thought to be the most common species in the country. Its delicate, nodding flowers, in several shades of blue, still mark it out as one of our most attractive speedwells, despite now being so widespread. 

It is no coincidence that so many types of speedwell are found in lawns. Speedwells can create more speedwells either from seed, or vegetatively from segments of stem. Consequently, the lawnmower is the speedwells’ best friend, scattering tiny pieces far and wide, creating new plants as it does so.

The last of my finds was in quite a different habitat, however. Anchored between the bricks that edge my herb garden, this one is called field, rock or wall speedwell (Veronica arvensis). It favours compressed soil, stony ground, or gaps between bricks! I’d describe it as more compact than the other speedwells, its stems being shorter and leafier. With only the tiniest, mid-blue flowers, which close when the sun goes in, this species really doesn’t look much like a speedwell at all. A much closer look confirms that the flowers conform to the usual, four-petalled blueprint, however, and it does have the familiar, trailing growth habit; it is, indeed, one of our native speedwells.

Identifying some of these species wasn’t easy. However, I was surveying my garden as part of the Essex Wildlife Trust’s Bioblitz campaign and using the iNaturalist app to log the wildflowers that I was finding. The beauty of this app is that all you need to do is take a photo of the flower with your phone, press the “What did you see” tab and the app will tell you what it believes to be the most likely ID for your plant in your location. This can be invaluable when trying to separate unfamiliar species from one another. 

But not only is it really rewarding to be able to identify all the flowers you find, the data is also going into a 10-year citizen science project with Essex University. Now in year four, the project is looking into the effects of climate change on the flowering times of different species of native wild plants. A really worthwhile project that is such excellent fun to take part in, and runs throughout the summer until 30^th September. To take part, click the button below!

Take part in the Essex Bioblitz

I’ve always found it rather charming that the scientific name for the speedwell family is “Veronica”, but how did they come to be commonly known as speedwells? There doesn’t seem to be a definitive answer to this and opinions vary. Some say the name is a shortened version of “speed you well” and the plant is a good luck charm for travellers. Others say it relates to their medicinal properties. But I’m inclined to think that it is simply because they grow so very quickly! I guess we’ll never know.

- Sue Huggett, Campaigns Volunteer