Tag: wildflowers

Bus stop meadow

Cindy at enclos*ure3 Comments

On a weekend walk in the southern suburbs of Stuttgart, I paused near a bus stop to admire the long uncut grass between the sidewalk and the street.

A little further down the street.
Another street, seen from a bus.

(Click on any of the thumbnails above to scroll through larger versions of the photos.)

Many public green spaces in the area have been left unmown this spring, and they could hardly be more beautiful.

Sumer is i-cumin in—
Lhude sing, cuccu!
Groweth sed and bloweth med
And springth the wude nu.
Sing, cuccu!

[Summer has arrived,
Loudly sing, cuckoo!
The seed grows
and the meadow blooms
And the wood springs anew,
Sing, cuckoo!]

— Anonymous, from “Sumer is i-cumin in“

ADDENDUM:  I just realized that today this blog is four years old.  Thanks for visiting!

Vintage landscape: groundcover

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Adirondack flowers, photochrom, Library of Congress“Adirondack mountain wild flowers,” ca. 1902, a photochrom by Detroit Photographic Co., via Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.

Here at my feet what wonders pass,
What endless, active life is here!
What blowing daisies, fragrant grass!
An air-stirr’d forest, fresh and clear.

— Matthew Arnold, from “Lines Written in Kensington Gardens“

Vintage landscape: New Roads, La.

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New Roads, Louisiana, 1938, by Frances Benjamin Johnston, via Library of Congress“House, small, hipped roof, New Roads vic., Point Coupee Parish, Louisiana,” 1938, by Frances Benjamin Johnston, via Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.

On some days, this is my dream garden.

Just cut a path through the gate, up to the front steps . . .

01471vand plant a fig tree at the end of the porch.

Long live the weeds and the wilderness yet.

— Gerard Manley Hopkins, from “Inversnaid“

Vintage landscape: Los Angeles

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L.A. houses, DOCUMERICA, National Archives“Flowers planted around Spyglass homes built on a terraced hillside[, Los Angeles], May 1975.”

This photo was taken by Charles O’Rear for DOCUMERICA,  a 1970’s photography program of the Environmental Protection Agency.

There are more pictures from DOCUMERICA here.

Vintage landscape: February flowers

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Tulare Valley, Calf. in February, via SMU, flickr“Tulare Valley, California; gathering flowers in February,” 1868, by Alexander Gardner, via SMU Central University Libraries Commons on flickr.

You can click on the image and enlarge it.

Best and brightest, come away!
Fairer far than this fair Day,
Which, like thee to those in sorrow,
Comes to bid a sweet good-morrow
The Brightest hour of unborn Spring,
Through the winter wandering,
Found, it seems, the halcyon Morn
To hoar February born.
Bending from Heaven, in azure mirth,
It kissed the forehead of the Earth,
And smiled upon the silent sea,
And bade the frozen streams be free,
And waked to music all their fountains,
And breathed upon the frozen mountains,
And like a prophetess of May
Strewed flowers upon the barren way,
Making the wintry world appear
Like one on whom thou smilest, dear.

— Percy Bysshe Shelley, from “To Jane: The Invitation“

(Posts with photos from the here and now are coming shortly.  We had house guests and were traveling last week.)