Intoxicated by the beauty of spring flowers I spend a lot of time walking around with a camera taking photographs. I enjoy time spent creating my photo art from them. Some of the flowers trigger memories and some are mentioned in some wonderful poetry.
Intoxicated By The Beauty of Spring Flowers
Daisies – Are You Kidding Me?
No, I am not joking, daisies are gorgeous spring flowers that are vastly underrated. I saw someone who had a large patch of grass that was full of daisies, it was spectacular! Until someone ran a lawn mower over it and destroyed the lot. Personally I would rather have the daisies than the grass.
Do you remember that ‘daisy ‘song from when we were kids? It was written by Harry Dacre in 1892. Apparently he was charged import duty on his bicycle which he brought with him when he first came to the United States. A friend commented that it was just as well he didn’t bring a bicycle made for two or he would have paid double duty. That phrase ‘bicycle made for two’ was then used in the song ‘Daisy Bell‘. I always think of it when I look at daisies (got nothing to do with them of course)! The chorus goes:
Daisy Daisy,
Give me your answer do!
I’m half crazy,
All for the love of you!
It won’t be a stylish marriage,
I can’t afford a carriage,
But you’ll look sweet on the seat
Of a bicycle built for two!
Periwinkles Provide Color in the Shade
I have mentioned in other blogs my love for the spring flowers that blanket our terraces in spring, including violets. This year we have a lot of periwinkle that is a great plant for ground cover in shade. That sounds very organised, I haven’t actually planted these you understand. They are another wild spring flower that is throwing color into the edges of our woodland. There is a wonderful poem about periwinkle by Juan Olivarez.
Periwinkle Blue
In a corner solitary,
Smiling brightly at the sun,
A Periwinkle there does tarry,
For she is the only one.
She brightens up that little corner,
With her leaves of forest green.
And nobody dares disturb her,
But she never goes unseen.
Her sky blue flowers happily,
Beam at all the times of day.
And smile readily for all to see,
And all of those that come her way.
Periwinkle blue, no, she’s not sad,
She’s really happy as can be.
She’s always bright, her heart is glad,
Beaming her big smiles at me.
Wild Grape Hyacinth
The final spring flower I want to mention today is the wild grape hyacinth. I love the way they form tiny clumps that stick out from the grass and weeds as shown in my art work. Cue more poetry, this time a sonnet by Vikram Seth that seems made for my garden:
Quince bursts in shameless colonies
On woody bushes, and the slender
Yellow oxalis, brief and tender,
Brilliant as mustard, sheets the ground,
And blue jays croak, and all around
Iris and daffodil are sprouting
With such assurance that the shy
Grape Hyacinth escapes the eye,
And spathes of Easter lilies, flouting
Nomenclature, now effloresce
In white and Lenten loveliness.
Do you get a lot of spring flowers where you live? What is your favorite? Tell me in the comments.
This was originally published in 2017 and updated and republished 14 April 2022.
Before you go
My name is Dorothy Berry-Lound an artist and writer. You can find out more about my art and writing at https://dorothyberryloundart.com.
You can follow me on Facebook.
Thank you for reading!
Couldn’t agree more!!! When we first moved into our old house, my dad brought up a huge cardboard box of wild violets. I could almost hear my husband’s eyes rolling in his head, lol.
The violets eventually found their way into a flower bed where they were appreciated greatly, photographed frequently, and mowed, not-at-all!!!!!!
They are just such a wonderful sign of spring.
Where I grew up there were no dandelions – I guess too warm and not enough winter that far south in winter. I first saw them really growing wild when I was 18 and in Chicago, Illinois. I think they are beautiful and I know the bees love them. I’ve tried to encourage them in my yard, but they don’t seem to take because it is a pretty dry spot and not enough moisture hardly for the grass to grow. The largest dandelion that I’ve ever seen, one flower was almost 2 inches (4.5 cm) across. It was up near the highest point on Clingman’s Dome in the Great Smoky Mountains of North Carolina.
great blog of an ode to Spring.