#272 - Groundsel heads on Bark

"Dandelions shouldn't grow in the woods, though. They haven't any sense of the fitness of things at all. They are too cheerful and self-satisfied. They haven't any of the mystery and reserve of the real wood-flowers."
"But wait a bit, the wood will have its own way even with those obvious dandelions. In a little while all that obtrusive yellowness and complacency will be gone and we'll find here misty, phantom-like globes hovering over those long grasses in full harmony with the traditions of the forest."
(L.M. Montgomery, The Blue Castle)

I love this passage about dandelions, it often comes to mind when I see them, or dandelion-like flowers like groundsel, because they are, well, rather garish. And by contrast, the seedheads are so mysterious and beautiful. The tiny groundsel heads in this picture look ethereal, almost dream-like, against the craggy bark of the tree trunk.