#222 - Elderflower

Each Elder tree is covered in clouds of creamy blossom, seen from afar it is hard to appreciate the individual perfection of each minuscule flower. Such a simple design, elegant in its spareness, in bridal colours - ivory petals and the palest yellow stamens.

#221 - Double Pink Hawthorn

These hawthorn flowers are so sweet and fresh, I especially love the undersides with the little five pointed green star against the pink and white. 

#220 - Blue Leylandii cones

The Leylandii are full of their miniature cones, there are so many on the trees that from a distance the dark green boughs are hazed with a blueish-purplish mist. Close up, the trees are laden with what looks like tiny blue roses.

#219 - Wood avens burrs

I noticed these burrs back in the autumn when they were dark brown, they are beautifully spherical and savage looking with their hooked spikes. Growing next to the star-like, Wood avens flowers they are even more striking now with their blood-red barbs and emerald green centres.

#218 - Horse Chesnut flower stamens

Sheltering from the rain today under a horse chestnut tree I noticed how all the elegantly shaped flower stamens were scattered on the ground. Hundreds and thousands of them. I would never have noticed them if it wasn't for the rain forcing me to take cover. Spent a few perfect moments on my knees in the dirt admiring their swan-like curves and delicate translucence.

#217 - Ribwort Plantain

I love these grass-heads that are growing in the meadows at the moment, looking like Elizabethan courtiers with their little white flower ruffs. They remind me of my childhood, I'm not sure why, I just remember noticing them even back then - they make me think of lying in the long grass on warm Summer days. Watching them bob in the wind I can't help feeling a little carefree and happy.

#216 - Buttercups at Dusk

I read somewhere about the meadows being 'enamelled' with flowers, I can picture that when I look at the buttercups which are so bright and beautiful at the moment. They seem to float above reality, like pictures of themselves, and in the dusk have a definite, otherworldly gleam, almost jewel-like. They seem to glow with light.

#215 - Shades of Lilac

The Lilac is out in all the front gardens. I counted three different shades of purple iton our way to the park today.

#214 - Lady's Smock

These little flowers are everywhere in our local park as the soil round here is clay and holds the water, which they like. From a distance they look pure white but close up they are covered in delicate mauve veins. They have particularly endearing backs, where the faintly purple lines spread rather beautifully into the white petals and the green stems are radiant against the lilac.

#213 - Copper Beech Flowers

The Copper Beeches are looking magnificent already. And I didn't realise they had flowers, two types of flower, no less. These gorgeous crimson flame-like ones are the female flower I believe. It's funny how the more I notice about the world, the more I realise I've missed, it's a sweet-sad feeling, a smile with a little rueful twist.

#212 - Small flowered forget-me-not with Hedge Mustard

Tiny blue and yellow flowers growing in sweet little posies.

#211 - Leaf Bud Scales, Crimson King Maple

The leaves are fully out and their discarded pink-green bud scales are strewn on every path. Under this purple-leaved Maple, hidden in the grass, they lie -  glossy half-curves, like drops of wine spilled out onto the ground.

#210 - Black Cherry flowers

I just cannot make these flowers look as beautiful as they do in real life. As perfect as they look close up, it's the effect of millions of them, all neatly arranged in clusters, that is so breathtaking. The children love playing under the low, flower-laden boughs of this tree.