Standing proud

This handsome specimen has been standing proud for weeks now - a miracle no-one has knocked it down. I took great delight in finding it by the River Asker as I haven't seen it as much in recent years.

The butterflies like it and it is Hemp Agrimony, a robust perennial, that likes river banks, ditches and damp places. The plant is sometimes called 'St. John's Herb', and on account of the hempen-shaped leaves, it was also formerly called, in some districts, 'Holy Rope', being named after the rope with which the Saviour was bound. Country people used to lay the leaves on bread, thinking they prevented it from becoming mouldy. The bread at Straker Towers doesn't last long enough to gather mould, so we will leave the plant to enjoy the last rays of summer.