Spring is Coming...

The tiny blue forget-me-not flowers that tentatively poked their heads above ground in my garden in Wales in late January were quickly obliterated by the recent weather and we wait for the genuine spring. Meanwhile I have been reading John Barnie's most recent collection of poems A Year of Flowers (Gomer Press) a beautiful volume that presents 44 wild flowers observed within walking distance of his home in Aberystwyth each with an accompanying poem.  The photographs were taken by John Barnie in 2010 and the poems provoked by each flower are, like the images, small beautiful and delicately defined.  It's a delectable little book and finely produced by Gomer.  I live in Powys, the neighbouring county to John in Mid Wales, and I was pleased to see (not ever having considered myself a botanist) that I could identify most of these flowers from my garden and the surrounding hedgerows and fields.  There were some I had never heard of such as Enchanter's Nightshade and some seaside flowers like Sea Holly and Sea Sandwort that I wouldn't expect to see in the Radnor Hills, but otherwise there they were in their glory: harebell and toadflax, stitchwort and violet...roll on Spring!

I won't quote any of the poems; instead you must buy a copy now!