At the Lake house we have a small lilac bush. What it misses in size it makes up in persistence and
a powerful and pungent scent. Lilacs (Syringa vulgaris) are in the olive family, Oleaceae.Walt Whitman's long poem, one of my favorites, is about the death of Abraham Lincoln. Here are a few of its 16 stanzas.When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd1When lilacs last in the dooryard bloom'd,And the great star early droop'd in the western sky in the night,I mourn'd, and yet shall mourn with ever-returning spring.Ever-returning spring, trinity sure to me you bring,Lilac blooming perennial and drooping star in the west,And thought of him I love.3In the dooryard fronting an old farm-house near the white-wash'd palings,Stands the lilac-bush tall-growing with heart-shaped leaves of rich green,With many a pointed blossom rising delicate, with the perfume strong I love,With every leaf a miracle—and from this bush in the dooryard,With delicate-color'd blossoms and heart-shaped leaves of rich green,A sprig with its flower I break.16Passing the visions, passing the night,Passing, unloosing the hold of my comrades' hands,Passing the song of the hermit bird and the tallying song of my soul,Victorious song, death's outlet song, yet varying ever-altering song,As low and wailing, yet clear the notes, rising and falling, flooding the night,Sadly sinking and fainting, as warning and warning, and yet again bursting with joy,Covering the earth and filling the spread of the heaven,As that powerful psalm in the night I heard from recesses,Passing, I leave thee lilac with heart-shaped leaves,I leave thee there in the door-yard, blooming, returning with spring.I cease from my song for thee,From my gaze on thee in the west, fronting the west, communing with thee,O comrade lustrous with silver face in the night.Yet each to keep and all, retrievements out of the night,The song, the wondrous chant of the gray-brown bird,And the tallying chant, the echo arous'd in my soul,With the lustrous and drooping star with the countenance full of woe,With the holders holding my hand nearing the call of the bird,Comrades mine and I in the midst, and their memory ever to keep, for the dead I loved so well,For the sweetest, wisest soul of all my days and lands—and this for his dear sake,Lilac and star and bird twined with the chant of my soul,There in the fragrant pines and the cedars dusk and dim.
The stem is light green. The basal leaves are linear or linear-lanceolate, slightly recurved and fleshy. There is a single central vein along the length of each leaf. The stem terminates in a floppy raceme of flowers. Each flower is about 8 mm. (1/3") across when it is fully open, consisting of 5 petals, 2 green sepals, 5 stamens with pink anthers, and a pistil with a tripartite style. The petals are white with fine pink stripes. The flowers open up on warm sunny days, and close during cloudy weather or at night. They are more or less erect while open, but nod downward while closed. There is a pleasant floral scent.
Spring Beauty: a humble flower,
A pleasure to behold;
Delicate and unassuming,
Blooming on forest floor
Where nature's treasure lies in store
For those who seek in quiet places
A rare reward.
(Written May 2007)
I love the subtle beauty of the Lily of the Valley.The iris are starting to emerge.This is wigelia:The first of many Sweet William.
It is often mistaken for phlox which blooms later in the year.
Rosebud lips and soft copper eyes
Waited on by fireflies
Crowned with fern and laurel bits.
She's Eo's sister...Hesperis.
On Easter we walked on a beautiful nature trail in the Meadows area of Innsbrook Missouri.It parallels a small branch of Charrette Creek. It is of the finest Missouri woods.There are limestone boulders and a cliff along a gradual trail which has only one steep spot.The trail came to a wonderful benchwhere it was peacefulby the silent creek.There were many spring wildflowers including this wild geranium whichwas sprouting out of a rock.
Hippeastrum is my proper Latin name I am so spectacular I simply put others to shame From a large bulb my green shoots will grow I dwarf the other plants I love to be on show With my elevated position I look down on other plants They are tiny in comparison and look like little ants When my tip emerges it contains my superior flower head My blooms can live for three weeks yet other flowers are dead I am the king of flowers I can produce three flower stem My trumpets are enormous, people stand and gaze at them I have no scent for you to smell when I am flowering The intensity of my blooms would make it overpowering Once I've finished blooming I deserve a two-month rest Then I will re-flower for you and show the world I am the best! 05~04~15 My chosen flower - Amaryllis meaning pride Contest:- Picture yourself as a flower – Andrea Dietrich
I love miniature flowers. I found these small flowers in the meadow behind the house. I have lived here for more than 35 years and have never seen them before. The entire meadow is a carpet of these tiny flowers. There were just too many to see. Imagine a whole field of them.
They are least bluets (Houstonia minima). They are also called tiny bluets and star violets.They are a precursor to spring. The flowers are about 1/4 inch wide and grow at the top of a slender stemthat usually branches only once near the middle. The petals (40 can be purple blue, deep violet or white and they have a reddish center and a yellow throat. These are pale violet.A closer look reveals the delicate colors.These tiny flowers are very uniform in size, height , and color. The excitement of seeing themout of nowhere will allow me to look for them every spring from now on - right about the time thatSpring Beauty appears. The least bluet has a large number of common names including Quaker Ladies, Quaker Bonnets, Little Washerwoman, Blue-eyed babies, Wild forget-me-not, Eye Bright, Angel Eyes, Nuns, Innocents
Star of Bethlehem, Venus' Pride, and just plain bluets.
