Years ago in the early spring when my son was a toddler my husband got into bicycling in a big way. He bought himself racing bicycles for us. He joined a racing club and also rode his bike the ten miles back and forth to school. One morning, he said that if I would go bike riding for an hour or so, he would get our son up, get him dressed for the day and feed him breakfast. And I quickly said you have a deal. On my first ride I noticed the riot of wildflowers on the back roads in New Jersey. Coming from Key West, I had never seen wildflowers and I was fascinated. The next morning I took my camera and stopped and took pictures. I bought a wildflower book and started identifying the flowers. I put all the wildflower pictures on slides and they were stored in hot attics for many years. I thought they were ruined. But when Peter started putting photos on the computer, they came out beautifully, so in celebration of Spring, I thought I’d share some of them with you.
Butter and Eggs
Pickerel Weed
White Japanese Honeysuckle
Orange Milkwort
Buttonbush
Buttercups
Tansy leaf Aster with friend.
Common Mullein with others.
Smooth False Foxglove.
Chicory with Bumblebee
Tick Weed
Purple Loosestrife
The Coral Rock bed in Key West is not conducive to roadside wildflowers as in the Northern States. Some, such as Queen Anne’s Lace are seen as a cultivated flower. We have our own plethora of tropical flowers that are colorful and different. Another time I will take you on a tour of Key West Tropical Forest and Botanical Garden.
Wonderful, Joanne. What a nice treasure. When your book comes out, we’ll have the whole batch printed out. You know we all want you to do that.
As we well know, over centuries upon centuries, the life demands of young mothers never change much. Not for you and me, and watching my daughter and daughter-in-law juggle little preschool boys, there is still precious little time for springtime flowers. How wonderful that you had that momentary gift and now have these pictures to mark that time! Thank you for sharing!! You’ve inspired me to step out of the office today for a lunchtime walk, breathe in some fresh air and go a-huntin’ for flowers.
I love to wait for the next Conch Comments, thinking where will Joanne go next to entertain us. Springtime Flowers gave us a glimpse of a young mother off on her own….a smile on her face as she focuses the camera into the face of nature. So lovely.