The end of May is not far off, and there's a legion of first appearances in the garden behind the little blue house and local hedgerows too...
The first buttercups, clover, daisies, salsify and vetches are blooming in the field at the end of the street, and a colony of escaped poppies dancing in scarlet profusion. The texture of the poppies with the sun shining through them is astonishing and we stop to stare - the blooms seem to give off light and not just pass it along.
Here and there are tufts of the purple weed known locally as Creeping Charlie, Ground-ivy or Gill-over-the-ground. I wasn't aware of it for some long time, but Glechoma hederacea has a whole cornucopia of medicinal uses, and it is in common use as a salad green in many cultures. European settlers carried it here on their travels, and it thrives in its "purpleness" wherever it finds itself, turning up in diverse habitats like vacant lots, parks, hedgerows and curbs, in residential flower beds and carefully manicured lawns.
Tall spires of Russell lupins in shades of pink and purple sway back and forth in our garden, and our blackberry bushes are in full bloom, full of bumble bees doing their happy appointed thing. If the rain holds off, I shall be out with camera and macro lens later today and moving with the wind as I try to capture the profligate hues on offer.
I am always enthralled by the differences between these madcap florid end-of-May doings, and the state of things here only a few weeks ago. Gone are the browns and the grays - there are reds and purples to be sure, and even the greens are dazzling.
3 comments:
Image is beautiful.
For the first time I had some poppies bloom from my scattered seeds.
Double poppies and hope they spread.
There's something about poppies, the colours so vibrant.
I have tried many, many times over the years (and in different places in different countries) to 'cultivate' poppies, I have 'unearthed' them and replanted, I've collected seeds and bought plants.... they do what they want and therefore I now look at them as an unexpected, unearned but for this all the more attractive and extraordinary gift from nature! Your photos show the luminosity of those flowers which mustn't be touched or else they fold up quite rapidly. I sometimes am very lucky to find cultivated giant poppies in all colours in flower shops; I can never pass them by and then enjoy their play of most delicate textures and colours for as long as they last.... Wonderful stuff!
I had - this just btw - immensly long poppies, wild tulips and ranuncula in my wedding flowers arrangements (church, my bunch, table deco at dinner....) and EVERY time I can feast my eyes on those flowers I think with gratitude to the fleurist who did 'my' flowers then - so many years ago!
Thank you once again for this colourful post - and the 'Gundelrebe' the pretty blue weed is blooming wildly in my garden's grass too - I let it live; it's so lovely with the daisies and the dandelions... :)
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