4.10.2009

Fairie Folk


There is a certain road that I love to drive down on my way home, especially when the sun is setting.  Usually, at the beginning of evening, I pass a tall brick home that is surrounded by shrubs and trees.  I've spent a lot of time thinking about perennial ground covers this spring, {oh, so profound} and so when I noticed beautiful purple and white blossoms hovering under the trees in perfect spring colours I was in love.  After enjoying them for several weeks I finally stopped to ask if I could take some pictures.  


You can see in this picture how there is no distinct grass line, the grass and the flowers just fade into each other.  It's perfect wildness {which is how I knew that fairies were involved}.


Here's a close up.  Do you know what plant this is?  
I need to figure it out.  


One patch had even come up in the middle of the front lawn.  
It added such an ethereal touch that I was delighted. 



The Flowers

All the names I know from nurse:
Gardener's garters, Shepherd's purse,
Bachelor's buttons, Lady's smock,
And the Lady Hollyhock.

Fairy places, fairy things,
Fairy woods where the wild bee wings,
Tiny trees for tiny dames--
These must all be fairy names!

Tiny woods below whose boughs
Shady fairies weave a house;
Tiny tree-tops, rose or thyme,
Where the braver fairies climb!

Fair are grown-up people's trees,
But the fairest woods are these;
Where, if I were not so tall,
I should live for good and all


Robert Louis Stevenson

5 comments:

Kathy said...

I can't tell exactly. However the blooms remind me of either wild violets or Johnny Jump ups. But there seems to be some other type of ground cover in there... maybe some vinca minor? Nice pics!

The Weaver of Grass said...

I don't think they are a flower we have here in UK - they do look a little bit like violets of some sort - I love ksr's comment that they might be johnny jump ups - what are those with such a lovely name?

Kathy said...

from
http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/Wildseed/29/29.4.html

Images and text copyright WILDSEED FARMS.

Johnny-Jump-Up
Viola cornuta (Violaceae)
A compact annual or short-lived perennial, native to Spain and the Pyrenees Mountains. This variety has been used extensively in floral gardens and has escaped from cultivation to roadsides, fields and waste areas throughout much of the United States. The vibrant blooms are deep purple and yellow, creating a solid carpet of color for weeks. Prefers partial shade to full sun in rich, well-drained soil.

If you can go to that link... it has a picture...Since I don't know how to put a picture in here to show you.

Red Clover said...

I hope they are Johnny-jump-ups for the sake of being able to say the name over and over when I refer to my garden...Alright, troops, I'm on it! Today I will go back to that house and ask what they are, then I will let you know.

Anonymous said...

I don't know if it's just Utah people that call them Johnny Jump Ups, I love that name. In Idaho they do call them viola (vee-o-las). I have some in a small pot on the patio this year. They are fun...and very hardy as exhibited by your neat photos.