Cyclamen

Snowdrops

Celandines

Aconites

Iris reticulata

Hellebores

Daffodils

Camellias

Wild Garlic

Primrose

Violets

Wood Anemones

Crocuses

Bluebells

Grape Hyacinths

Rhododendrons

Tulips

Red Campion

Foxgloves

Yellow Flag

Roses

Sweet Peas

with Dahlias yet to come

…writing this list cheers me up. They are the flowers we’ve seen this year in a very approximate order of their appearance.

There’s deeper magic in this for me. This is the wonder and awe that many of these blooms come out of the same patch of soil. I’m exaggerating to make the point but it is true that the same patch of woodland soil can sustain Snowdrops, and then Wild Garlic, and also Daffodils, and Wood Anemones, and then Bluebells. Some species overlap but it is clear that there is a season in which each one thrives and then seems to vanish. The soil must be crammed with the various bulbs and rhizomes. Packed with potential.

Most of the year, there is no indication of the wealth within the soil after each species’ moments of fame. Are we like the soil? We are certainly capable of supporting different phases where there are variations in what blooms in our lives. These seasons come and then they go. Some of our moments of delight are like the perennials of the plant kingdom in that they can come year after year, but most are here for one season only.

As I get older, I’ve found myself grieving for blooms that will not come again. This is fruitless, but understandable. However, I take enormous comfort from the soil. The soil itself can sustain a diversity of plant life as long as the species don’t all grow at once. The Daffodils of my younger years won’t come again, nor the Bluebells, but we may have many, many years left in us, ample time to support the growth of an entirely different crop. This crop will be new to me and may or may not bear a resemblance to what has come before. It is certain that it will be the right crop for the right season – for everything has its season and time. Here’s to the magic and the mystery which lies before us!

Lex

A Moodscope member.