Maypole over the town of Degerloch, near Stuttgart, Germany, May 10, 2015.
In Swabia on the first of May a tall fir-tree used to be fetched into the village, where it was decked with ribbons and set up; then the people danced round it merrily to music. The tree stood on the village green the whole year through, until a fresh tree was brought in next May Day.
— Sir James Frazer, from Chapter 10, The Golden Bough
My Bloom Day tulips from Wednesday have faded into orchid-like shapes this morning.
And shall we not part at the end of day,
With a sigh, a smile?— Ernest Dowson, from “April Love“
A previous occupant of our house left us three or four clumps of orange-red and dark pink tulips. I’m enjoying the colors in our kitchen window and in the living room.
To see what’s blooming today for other garden bloggers, visit Carol at May Dreams Gardens.
A little while ago today. . .
The forest behind our house carpeted in wood anemones or Anemone nemorosa, a small white flower native to Germany.
I just noticed that little black bug on the flower petal. It looks like a tick. I feel itchy now. . . .
Spring, the sweet spring, is the year’s pleasant king…
I looked out the upstairs window yesterday afternoon and saw that the woods behind our house were carpeted in wood anemones or Anemone nemorosa, a native flower.
When I went out the back gate, I also found yellow primroses — Primula vulgaris, I believe — along the fence.
Except for the little white flowers and some ivy, the forest is still mostly brown and beige, but that will change very quickly now that daytime temperatures are in the 60s° F.
Flowers in a vase
or strewn in mad profusion
across a meadow. Choose— Tom Disch, from “Memoirs of a Primrose“
enclos*ure 