Keukenhof is spectacular in bloom, Toowoomba is stunning during the Carnival of Flowers, as is Japan in Cherry Blossom season, but right now I’m thinking of Wildflowers, especially those that grow in the most unlikely or unusual places.
Street light pop up in Helsinki Growing beside a bridge footing in Norway
To say, I was initially surprised, to spot blossoms hard-to-grow-in-Australia, growing spontaneously, by the road in the coldest of countries, was an understatement!
These beauties were busting their glorious blaze of colour beside a street light in Helsinki, beside a bridge support, or vacant hillside in Norway, or idly cheering up an industrial lot in Denmark; their location was a mere afterthought of nature, thriving as they were, with ne’er a green finger or hint of fertilizer, in sight.
Marine industry site near the fjord
Knowing their time was short, these blooms took full advantage of the extended summer sunlight, exploding into intense hues that had me gawping at their vibrant intensity. Even simple grasses and weeds seemed aesthetic.
Enchanting architecture and backdrops increased the aesthetic appeal of the wildflowers.



Here in my country, the native flowers are showing their best winter coat.
Unusually for Australia, parts of our country are in a snap Covid lockdown and due to that fact and it being winter, it’s more difficult to get out and appreciate the world, but not impossible, and there’s always the archives, isn’t there? The native blooms such as Banksia, Swamp Mahogany and Xanthostemon put on a display.
WordPress has added a feature in the image photo block where by you can add a tonal colour to your photos, using shadows or highlights. Why not try this out this fortnight? It is a blogging challenge is something in which both hemispheres of the world can participate, no matter the season.
Friendly Friday Blog Challenge Prompt – Wildflowers

Breaking News – Third Host for the Friendly Friday Blog Challenge Team
Sandy and I have been having a ball hosting the Friendly Friday Challenge, we’re really excited to welcome Sarah from the blog, Travel with Me, to our Blogging Challenge team, as host, every six weeks. Sarah is a blogger who loves landscape, architecture, wildlife and street photography. Here is a little more about Sarah:
Those of us with the means and inclination to, [travel], are rewarded with amazing opportunities to learn about different cultures, different landscapes, different environments. And in seeing those differences I think we discover something very important, which is that however different our lifestyles, at heart people have more in common than you might think. We learn to value diversity, to respect other viewpoints and to rejoice in our similarities ~ Sarah
www.toonsarah-travels.blog/who-am-i/
Sarah will be posting the next Friendly Friday prompt in two weeks time, ie. Friday 16th July, over at her blog, Travel with Me. She will concentrate on a particular theme for her prompts. Are you curious to see what that theme might be? Sarah will be posting clues on her blog, next week, so keep an eye out for that post.

Instructions for Joining the Friendly Friday Blogging Challenge
- Write and publish a post inspired by the prompt, remembering this is a challenge not restricted to photography only. It can be a recipe, story, (fiction or non-fiction), or art in visuals or words: For this prompt it might be a snippet or anecdote of somewhere you visited or even an image of a pressed wildflower you may have received long ago. You are only limited by your imagination.
- Please remember to Tag your post – ‘Friendly Friday.’
- Include a ping-back* to this blog post adding a comment, (with the url of your published post), here on this post.
*NB. You must ping-back to this WordPress post itself, as link or ping-backs to the home page of a WordPress blog doesn’t trigger a notification to the host blogger. That’s why posting a comment here is good practice, so that your hosts can always find your post.
This Friendly Friday Wildflower Challenge runs until 15th July.
Friendly Friday Challenge 16th July – Host Blogger Sarah at Travel with Me
Friendly Friday Challenge 30th July – Host Blogger Sandy at The Sandy Chronicles.
Further instructions on joining in are found on the Friendly Friday Blog Challenge Page.
Thank you for giving me a reason to go through my flowers and post two photo for each month in a year. I wish you much joy with my flowers and generally.
https://mexcessive.photo.blog/2021/07/09/friendly-friday-wildflowers/
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This week’s entry:
https://onemillionphotographs.com/2021/07/09/36292-friday-wild-flowers/
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Thank you for joining in, again. I will go visit your entry!
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I love the watercolour paintings! I think I’ll participate this week and combine it with another challenge, the first challenge post since 1,5 years I think!!! đŸ˜€ So, pingback coming soon
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Awesome, Snow! Can’t wait to see some Finnish? Wildflowers! Combine away! You are always welcome.
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And here it is: https://thesnowmeltssomewhere.wordpress.com/2021/07/12/blue-wildflowers/
Same roadside beauty as you had found!
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Is that a lupin?
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it is!
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Fantastic flowers! Love them. I have a Mexican sage that has a long purple blossom that is smaller but looks similar. I just cut some and put them in a vase to remind me of the lupins in Finland and Norway.
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I looked it up and yes, your Mexican sage does look very similar! Sadly, lupins here are supposed to be uprooted as weeds, in theory at least
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Awww. Weeds! But they are so beautiful!
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I know! đŸ™ƒ
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Love your pictures and any post that mentions Helsinki or Finland in general, gets a thumbs-up from me. This topic inspired me to look for beauty all around us.
https://cyclingforcancer.co.uk/friendly-friday-challenge-notice-the-beauty-around-you/
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I just had a lovely read of your post, Reija! Gorgeous flowers in unexpected places. The best serendipity of all. Thanks for the thumbs up. I loved visiting Finland and would go back in a heartbeat, in any season. Do you miss the country too?
Thanks ever so much for joining in the Friendly Friday Challenge.
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Beautiful wildflowers Amanda, so many of these I’ve never seen before! My belated contribution to this lovely challenge is here: https://tranature.com/2021/07/14/wordless-wednesday-wonderful-wildflowers/
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If you haven’t been to Australia, you probably have not come across them. The Scandinavians ones are more widespread across the northern hemisphere, or so I believe. Nature really is amazing. This morning I saw a pink sunrise, a highlighted backdrop to a dark red and green tree hibiscus and I thought what an awesome colour combination. Nature never gets colour harmonies wrong, does it? I will pop over and check out your entry. Thanks ever so much for joining in with Friendly Friday.
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I also seen those flowers(the ones you asked about) for the first time. Here, during COVID pandemic we are unable to explore such beauty, maybe the conditions get better here.
Visit our link: https://mylovelylawn.com/best-artificial-grass-installations-granite-vs-sand-sub-base/
Talking about the artificial grass installation.
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I hope the conditions improve quickly for you, Jordan.
I am afraid the link didn’t work on my phone.
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