#191 - Starweed

Every plants seems to have a cold Latin name, an ugly yet descriptive colloquial name and a best and beautiful name - I can only speculate at what sort of person would prefer 'Mouse-ear chickweed' to 'Starweed'. I suppose mouse-ear refers to the shape of its leaves but its tiny little flowers are delicately starring the grass at the moment -  green and white galaxies next to the pavement.

#190 - Primrose

I was just thinking I was getting tired of yellow, I know that sounds ungrateful, it's only that the daffodil says it all and the other bright golden flowers seem to be merely a repeat. I was hoping for a different colour when we saw a clump of primroses, growing right down the bank, almost in the water, and I remembered that some yellows are still unrepeatable. The primrose really says Spring, without a hint of brassiness or ostentation, it's face is sweet and fresh every time.  

#189 - Maple buds

I would never have noticed these buds if I wasn't looking. I just saw a hint of red from across the park and when I went to investigate saw these colourful buds with tiny emerging fronds like sea anemones. I can't wait to see what they are going to look like.

#188 - Forget-me-not

Saw my first Forget-me-not of the year on my way to the park this afternoon. One of my favourite flowers  - this little one had pink buds and flowers which purpled into the familiar blue. So beautiful... I can't look at this picture without smiling! 

#187 - Cherry Blossom

I love the contrast between the crumpled white petals and the scarlet stems and centres.

#186 - New Leaves on Silver Birch

I just can't get over these leaf buds that are growing like red roses on the naked boughs.

#185 - New Leaves at Sunset

Silhouettes as the sun went down tonight. New leaves opening like flowers against the sky.

#184 - Japanese Rose

Obviously, this is not a native plant but it seems very at home, this one is growing out of a broken fence down the side of a quiet alley near our local park. Yellow is not my favourite colour (although generally speaking, all colour is good, especially after a long grey winter) but I really like these dark gold flowers, they just seem elegant... classy somehow, without being garish. 

#183 - Mossy Twigs

By the path there is a tree that is still bare apart from the moss that grows in clumps on every twig. It is like a picture of a tree from some Disney-esque landscape, or childrens' fairy-tale illustration. Although I am watching the buds everyday, willing them to open, I will miss the sculptural quality of the bare trees, the sharp lines and edges of the Winter skyline in the woods.

#182 - Lesser Celandine on River Stone

"When their petals go back flat with the sunshine... they seem to be pressing themselves at the sun." (D H Lawrence) Read this the other day when I looked up the lesser celandine, my eyes passed over the words and I immediately forgot them, until today when I saw these flowers curling back on themselves and they suddenly came back. They look so endearingly eager. 

#181 - Pussy Willow Flowers

More colour appearing on the trees, beautiful fringed catkins, like fireworks against the clouds.

#180 - Pink and Gold Leaf buds

Right by the children's play area are two small trees that are covered in feathery pink and gold leaf buds. I have no idea what these trees are as, despite visiting that part of the park hundreds of times, I have never even noticed them until now. Everything is so mysterious in Spring, strange bumps and swellings, surprising colours.. and the empty boughs transform before your eyes. It is a world full of potential.

#179 - Speedwell

On our way to the park we pass a long grassy bank which has suddenly sprung a mass of tiny, creeping flowers of the most exquisite blue. Speedwell. 

#178 - Lesser Celandine on Thistle

I have seen a few patches of these Lesser Celandines growing on the edge of the water, apparently they are also known as 'The Spring Messenger'. A plain little flower, I rather like the way they fold up in the evening, their petals lifting to show the green tinted undersides next to the pink stems. On the thistle, they seem to float ethereally and take on a celestial glow.  

#177 - Trumpets

We are distinctly short on daffodils in our part of the city - I see plenty in gardens, and further afield they are growing by the roadside, but they are either late, as the ones in my garden are, or absent, which is a shame. All the delicate blossom, and the easily bruised crocus, announce Spring well enough, but it never seems quite definitely here without the fanfare of the daffodils. 

#176 - Blossom on Stone

I am officially declaring Spring - we may be a week or so early but there's no way a day like today belonged in Winter. The cherry plum trees were radiantly bridal in the streaming sunshine and beyond the park boundaries, over the stream, I saw a tree that was hazed in dark pink - close up it was covered in tightly furled pink buds, just one or two coaxed open early by the sun today.

#175 - Daisies

Daisies make me happy. Little pieces of happiness.

#174 - Marsh Grass and Moon

It's all about the evening skies at the moment, a sprinkling of flowers, the trees full of buds... the sun sets so graciously and the moon appears early in the sky, while it is still light. By the reservoir the fields are still water-logged and flat, only the marsh grass stands up in clumps. The world is waiting.

#173 - Windblown Blossom

The blossom is heart-lifting, I could look at it for ever. Somehow, even with the petals whisked away by the brisk March winds, it is still beautiful, even exotic. And so, Spring comes.

#172 - White Crocuses

I rescued these broken crocuses from the verge today - hence the splayed petals, fragile and translucent, exposing the wonderful, flame-like stamens. 

#171 - Groovy Baby!

Love these funky Alder catkins which start off purple and are now turning red with purple spots. Very psychedelic.

#170 - Snowberry

I think these may be Snowberries, I'm not sure if they are purple berries turning white or vice versa, but they look so delicate and sweet, strung out like clusters of beads on their bare stems. They look like jewellery.