Tomb decoration

DAY 81 (25 JUNE) – Herb Robert (Geranium robertianum) (Farnham)

Ahh. Here’s nature again – putting colours together perfectly. Pink flower heads with wine red stalks and buds. Found this wonderfully scruffy herb Robert sprawling over an old, cracked tomb in the local churchyard. It flowers from April right through to the autumn, when the leaves also turn red.

Common all over Britain and Ireland, this lovely wild flower has earned a lot of other names over time: red robin, stinking Bob (its leaves smell musky when crushed), squinter Pip, storksbill and – appropriate for a churchyard – death comes quickly. And even a rhyme:

Little herb Robert, bright and small / peeps from the bank and the old stone wall…