Pansies and Violets

Arrangement of garden pansies in large round planters at one of the entrances in the old cemetery. Earlier in the spring the pansies were combined with daffodils, but the other day when I passed, I noticed that the withered daffodils had been removed and more pansies added instead. Everything looking fresh, neat and colourful!

In a flower bed outside a building in my neighbourhood, I found these smaller ones below, which I think I'd call violets rather than pansies - although they are larger than the even smaller wild ones that I normally think of as violets...

The Wikipedia article on Pansy tells me that...

Modern horticulturalists tend to use the term "pansy" for those multi-coloured large-flowered hybrids that are grown for bedding purposes every year, while "viola" is usually reserved for smaller, more delicate annuals and perennials.

The name "pansy" is derived from the French word pensée, "thought", and was imported into Late Middle English as a name of Viola in the mid-15th century, as the flower was regarded as a symbol of remembrance.

Progress of Spring

Most of last week was sunny and warm, and it almost became a tough job to keep up with the progress of spring! 

Last Thursday, April 3rd, I found that the wood anemones had shown up in a half-wild woodland spot that I sometimes walk by.

 

Scilla could also be seen here and there, and I also spotted the first dandelions.

And freshly painted park benches turned up here and there around the estate where I live!
 

On Friday I walked into town for a dentist appointment, and in the city park, I found various bulbous plants in bloom in the flower beds along the river, and also the big old magnolia tree.

 

 

Alas the pollen season is also here... (witch hazel tree in the park)

On my way back, I found cemetery staff busy planting pansies.

Another sign of spring is that the sea gulls arrived from the coast on 1 April.

 
Two gulls zoomed in from home, sitting on the roof of a neighbouring building. 

Over the weekend it turned a lot colder again, though. Still sunny, but frosty nights, and it was back to wearing a winter coat for walks in the day time, too. (Typical of April here: Almost summer temperatures sometimes in the afternoon, but still high risk of frosty nights, and might even snow a bit, even if it won't stay long on the ground...)

Spring in the Air

 

I went for a walk to the park downtown, and discovered that they'd filled the flower beds there with pansies and hyacints.

 

The seagulls arrived inland from the coast just before Easter... Always a sign of spring here!

Daffodils are in bloom...

 

... and I found some Tussilago (or Coltsfoot) too.

Lunch With Madame Butterfly

Today – sorry, yesterday, because I intend to pre-schedule this post for tomorrow (that made everything so much clearer, didn’t it?) – I had the pleasure of being able to eat my lunch outside in the sun on my balcony. I’m not sure I’ve ever done that as early as in March before (but one forgets easily).

Moreover, I had the delightful company of Madame Butterfly. Well, it might possibly have been Monsieur Butterfly, I’m not 100% sure. But let’s stick with Madame for literary purposes.

While I had Mango Chicken (and forgot to take photos of the mangos before I started cooking!), Madame Butterfly munched away at my pansies. I was so glad to see her that I decided not to disturb her during lunch by going inside to get the camera. So we just enjoyed the sunshine and our food.

Eventually, though, I had to go inside for a bit, and it seemed I scared her, because she fluttered away. However, when I got back out, she was back too; having decided to stay for tea. Knowing that she must be really hungry after her long winter sleep, and that there aren’t a lot of flowers about yet, I kept my distance for a good while longer, sitting in my chair, just zooming her in.

 

Hello, what’s this? A fly! Not sure I like that!
These are my flowers! I saw them first!

Yes, this is my flowerbox, and I don’t really want to share!
(Can you spot the rival lurking behind the box, to the left?)

Now I’m invisible – I think.

Eventually, I dared try a few proper macros up close:

The sun is sooo lovely, and the flowers sooo yummy…
I could just stay here for hours and hours…
Oops, perhaps I already have!

All right, I guess I can let the human come a little closer with that thing, she seems harmless enough…

Hey! That’s close enough though!

And the next time I turned my back, she vanished.

But I think that had more to do with the sun going down, than with me and my camera. (I wonder where she spends the night?)

Macro Monday: Butterfly Courtship, 12 March

“The butterfly counts not months
but moments, and has time enough.”
   ~ Rabindranath Tagore ~

Small Tortoiseshell – Aglais Urticae – Nässelfjäril, 12.03.2012

Whether it’s true that butterflies feel no stress, I’m not sure. These two seemed to go straight from winter hibernation to courtship, on the very first day the sun was warm enough to wake them up. ;) 

Today was the first day after winter that I went for a walk bareheaded; and it was also the first day this side of winter that I came across butterflies on my stroll about the neighbourhood.

I always wonder with the first ones that wake up, what they find to eat (and with these two, if there’s anywhere to lay eggs yet!)

So my next stop was the garden centre to buy some spring flowers for my balcony. Tiny blue pansies and daffodils (not yet in bloom).

Spring has officially sprung!

Macro Monday