This Iris, called “Rare Treat”,  just bloomed this morning. It was in the center area of my cul-de-sac, along with its very upright family, about 12 of them.  When I came back in the afternoon, one stalk, (this one), had fallen down to the ground.  The groundskeeper seems to be on a roll wiping out first bloomers as I saw him with his wheelbarrow cutting through the center area and last week he was mowing in his sitdown-swivel machine right over a whole row of daffodils.

So, I retrieved the bloom and gave it some photo love.

Mary Oliver wrote a poem about peonies.  Approach cautiously. Their wild perfect brief beauty breaks her heart every spring.  Her words inspired me to spend the afternoon trying to capture that lush beauty.

My all time favorite quote about flowers comes from a midwesterner newspaper editor in the 30′s, William Allen White.  His gave some simple advice to American women of the time.

“My advice to women in America is to raise more hell and fewer dahlias.”

Amen, William.  Point taken.  But raising hell at 68 years old has fewer options so I’m sticking with my dahlias.

“And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.”-Anais Nin

]]> http://www.patcoakley.com/2013/05/08/ready-or-not-here-comes-poppy/feed/ 0 http://www.patcoakley.com/2013/05/06/alkaloids-are-not-a-breath-mint-the-icelandic-poppy/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=alkaloids-are-not-a-breath-mint-the-icelandic-poppy http://www.patcoakley.com/2013/05/06/alkaloids-are-not-a-breath-mint-the-icelandic-poppy/#comments Mon, 06 May 2013 20:11:44 +0000 Pat Coakley http://www.patcoakley.com/?p=15055

This is an Icelandic Poppy. Native to subpolar regions but not to Iceland as it turns out.  Just about every part of it is poisonous, containing alkaloids which can be used for pharmaceutical or recreational purposes. The first alkaloid was called “morphine”.  Yep, that morphine.  If you look it up in Wikipedia, it’s amazing the FDA allows these plants to be sold at all.  But, c’mon, they are beautiful.

Thou art the Iris, fair among the fairest,
Who, armed with golden rod
And winged with the celestial azure, bearest
The message of some God.
– Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, from Iris

I looked up quotes about Ranunculus and got quotes about buttercups.  Apparently, they are in the same genus family of ranunculaceae, but like all families, there’s not always a physical resemblance.

Walking in early spring, for the most part, is filled with budding trees and shrubs.  But, yesterday, I noticed the beauty of leaves on a branch that didn’t make it through the winter.

I bought these in a grocery store where it can be spring any time of year.  After this week’s events 30 miles from me (Boston), I may never stop photographing flowers.