| Do any other plants have
the power to bewitch our senses as do the first wild flowers
of the spring? After the endless dark winter months, when
the world can seem a frozen monotone, suddenly there they
are: primrose, dandelion and celandine, as bright as little
suns, catching the moment when warmth and colour return
to the northern world. A bank of celandines never fails
to remind me of the Yellow Brick Road in The Wizard of Oz,
when the black-and-white movie leaps into glorious Technicolor.
Nowadays, the flowers of spring interest us for another
reason. They seem to arrive earlier every year. This year,
hawthorn and blackthorn hedges came into leaf in mid-February,
several weeks before their usual time. Lawnmowers are already
busy along the south coast, and gorse is in golden flower
along the M4. Spring is rapidly moving backwards. If dandelions
and primroses are any guide, true winter barely exists any
more.
This worries us. While we welcome the spring, we feel uneasy
at butterflies, queen bees and wild flowers appearing in
February. Even if we live and work in a city far from the
nearest copse or meadow, we know in our bones that it is
unnatural, and that nature's clock is in need of urgent
repair. But surely we can still enjoy these early wild flowers
for what they are and what they bring. Heralds of spring,
they are familiar and yet somehow always miraculous. Here
is my top dozen of the best-loved flowers of the season
|
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