Words About Things

The Himalayan Balsam doesn’t look like an out-of-control weed, it has pleasant pink flowers and is often referred to ‘kiss me on the mountain’ (“left or right..?”) or ‘Policeman’s Helmet’. It isn’t as harmless as it might first seem however. The flower is not a native of the UK (as its name suggests), it was first grown here in 1839 at Kew Gardens from whence it escaped into the wild.

The flowers of the Balsam are pleasant, it looks somewhat like an Orchid. If you had some of the flowers delivered to your mother she would no doubt be pleased (not knowing that they could take over her entire living room). Unfortunately it is a voracious plant and has a tendency to overwhelm slower growing native species. The Balsam mainly grows on riverbanks where it can very quickly take over large areas preventing other wild flowers from growing in their natural habitat.

The Balsam is increasingly becoming a problem in the Norfolk Broads in Northern England. A weekend of action has been planned by the slightly racist sounding Norfolk Non-Native Species Initiative along with the Norfolk Broads Authority in order to control the growth of the Himalayan Balsam. Volunteers are being sought to report sightings along the banks of the River Bure.

The results of the survey will be collated and plan will be formed by Waterways conservation officer Beth Williams on how best to tackle the problem. She says that people are generally unaware of the dangerous nature of the flower:

“People say it is so pretty and the bees love it, but it is sneaky. It grows quickly and blocks out all sun light. It produces hundreds of seeds per plant and when the seed pods are ripe, if you flick them they pop, which is something kids like to do. Hopefully this weekend of action will help people look at it in a different light. It is about generating awareness.”

One of the most important things we look for when buying flowers is how they smell. While some flowers are scentless those which we cultivate and give as gifts tend to have pleasant odors and this is part of their appeal. The smell is of course an effective way of attracting pollinators like Bees and other insects but it also attracts humans. Flowers which we find pleasant have surely benefited from being cultivated by humans over the years, becoming more prevalent than they might otherwise have been.

The problem is that people like to buy flowers when have yet to open but it is difficult to tell what they will smell like. The boffins at a well known British supermarket have come up with an ingenious solution to this problem: scratch and sniff packaging. The Telegraph explains the process that went into creating the scratch and sniff panels:

Floral fragrance expert Dr Hazel MacTavish-West and natural perfumer Dr John Heffernan were enlisted to assess the fragrance of open lily flowers. Each component of the fragrance was analysed and then recreated as a fragrance in a bottle… The final step was to encapsulate the fragrance into a print varnish, which is applied to a print label as the final step. The varnish is unscented until you brush your finger across the page, breaking open the capsules and allowing the fragrance to escape.

So now you can tell what your flowers will smell like once they have opened, assuming that the synthetic compound is accurate. I wonder if they will accept returns if the flowers don’t match the scratch and sniff?

Related links:

How does scratch and sniff work?
Save 25% on M&S fresh flowers
Why do flowers smell good?

When I was younger there were only four television channels so you had to watch whatever rubbish was on if it was raining (which was about 6 out of every 7 days). That is how I found myself watching an old black and white film about a plant that roamed around a town at night eating people. I’m not sure what the underlying themes of the film were (nature always prevails?) but it put me off my Broccoli.

Somebody has now invented a giant plant that provides free, solar powered, Wifi. The flowers have a seating area and solar pannels in the petals. They provide a Wi-Fi network and a chanrging point for mobile phones and other devices. They were created by Patrick Shearn and Cynthia Washburn who are artists from Los Angeles who are part of Poetic Kinetics.

Perhaps I aught to try and get one of these for my garden? I know my girlfriend likes it when I get her flowers (although perhaps not giant plastic ones that attract people with laptops like bees).