Friday, April 10, 2009

Again, the new


Spending the time outdoors as I do,
you might think I know my wildflowers well.
Truth is, each year I begin again,
the process of learning their names,
the particular differences setting similar plants apart,
where each prefers to be found,
and when.

The spring “ephemerals,” that,
from beneath a lifeless layer on the forest floor, appear almost overnight,
in a few short weeks, complete their entire growing cycle,
before the dense green curtain is drawn across overhead.

Their brief, exuberant lives often catch me unprepared—
launching my first attack against another advance of Garlic Mustard or picking up what winter has carelessly left strewn about the yard. Until I uncover that dappled or finely feathered leaf, yet unfurled or fuzzy, that reminds me, there's reason to pause.
And though I know our property well, most of its woods are reclaimed farmland--few of the real treasures of the wildflower world are found, still surviving, here.

I must go elsewhere, to untouched hillsides, unplowed places,
where flowers bloom as if no one is watching.
And, each year's glory, more lovely than the last,
allows me stolen glances.

A Collection of Hepatica






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11 comments:

Sally said...

Wonderful! Your words--and the photos! Hepaticas = bloodroot, right? Lovely to see them again...

Wanda..... said...

Hi Nina...I just discovered my first white Rue Anemone in our woods...had never come across it before...anxious to search for more before they are gone for the season!

nina at Nature Remains. said...

Thanks--but, no, not Bloodroot.
Bloodroot is always white, and has a single flower that emerges with leaf wrapped around stem.
Hepatica have the 3-lobed leaf that gives them their name (as the lobes of a liver) and may have multiple flowers--you see the many colors they can be!

Bloodroot was blooming this same day--I may share some of those, too, soon.

Lisa at Greenbow said...

Nina, your pictures are so good. So sharp! I too have difficulty with spring flowers. Well most wildflowers. For me I learn them during spring and summer then by the next spring I start all over again. I blame my age. tee hee... That is one good thing about grwoing older. I can blame my age for such shortcomings.

Richard said...

I have the same problem with identification when it comes to spring migration of the birds.

nina at Nature Remains. said...

Richard--I know, I know! If they'd just stick around a little longer!

Ginnymo said...

Beautiful photos!! Happy Easter!!

Kelly said...

...very pretty wildflowers. I always love little flowers with this shape.

Endment said...

Oh --- I needed this
Spring is just barely beginning
and I needed a real breath of spring

Appalachian Lady said...

Great photos of the wildflowers. I have an easier time identifying flowers than birds!

Julie Zickefoose said...

That is without question the most beautiful blue hepatica I've ever seen. The deepest, purest...and to give us white and pink too. Thank you. Hepatica eluded me until a couple of years ago, until I happened upon it in our woods on a winter hike, marked the place and came back ridiculously early to find it abloom. I love it!