Wildflowers

One of the things that I love about Spring are the wildflowers that bloom in the woods. Around the time that the grass is turning green, and the buds are just coming out on the trees, the wildflowers pop through the dried leaves and wave a cheery hello. They do...and that's not weird unless you wave back. And waving back is OK, just as long as no one is lookin'.

When I was a little girl I'd go into the woods with my grandparents and bring home beautiful bouquets of wild flowers. It looks like we found some marsh marigolds, wild geraniums, pink anemones and some spring beauties on this spring day back in the early 70's. And yes, I did listen when they told me what the plants were.

My favorite spring wildflower is this little beauty...it's called the Hepatica.

They're small, about the size of a dime and are one of the first flowers to bloom in the woods in the spring.

These pictures are from a few years ago, I haven't gotten into the woods to look for them yet this year...but my mom said yesterday that they are just beginning to bloom.

Which means that I need to get to the country soon. They only bloom for about 10 days if the weather is right. I was going to go there last weekend, but Billy's baseball tryouts and catching a bad cold had me staying in the suburbs....and in the house. Blah.

Back to the flowers....they bloom in colors from a darkish purple, to periwinkle blue, to lavender, to pink to white. Subtle, but wonderfully different colors. If you click on this one you can see that they have fuzzy little stems.

Sometimes they grow in clumps....

....sometimes just a few together.

They come up next to fallen logs,

...next to trees, and just about anywhere they please.

How does something so beautiful and fragile survive our long cold winters?

I have a little calendar that has a verse for each day. The verse for April 20th is: "God borders the brooks with violets; don't forget to put the finishing touches on your own work."

I know that these aren't violets, and I know that they aren't growing by a brook...but that verse always reminds me of Hepaticas...

...and it reminds me of where the Hepaticas came from.

The verse also reminds me that it's OK to put the extra effort in to beautify things, that the extra touches are what make things special and memorable. Sometimes I need that reminder when I'm working on things.

There are beautiful finishing touches all around us...I hope you've had time today to notice some of them. Spring indeed has sprung.