Wildflower Wednesday

Once again, a wildflower for you to enjoy. This is one of my favourite spring wildflowers and it's easy to find here in the Maritimes.. in fact, they grow right on my back lawn. Hubby, the lover of  "picture perfect" lawns, would happily spray to get rid of these "weeds" but I plead with him each year to "leave my violets alone!!" This is viola cucullata, better known as the Purple Violet, the floral emblem of New Brunswick. Also known as Blue Violet and Wood Violet, it grows in damp woodlands,  meadows, fields and along roadsides. And in my backyard (yay!!) It is a
small low- growing plant, the
blooms being about 1/2" - 3/4", but if left alone, it will develop into a nice clump. I'm thinking of digging a few out of the lawn and planting them in my perennial bed. The purple violet was adopted as the official floral emblem of N.B. in 1936, and is also the state flower of Illinois, Wisconsin, Rhode Island and New Jersey! It has no scent but the young leaves and the flowers are edible. You can see the wonderful veining in the petals and the tiny white "fringe" in the throat of each little blossom - such beauty!





Peace,
Linda

Violets

I had no thought of violets of late,

The wild, shy kind that spring beneath your feet

In wistful April days, when lovers mate

And wander through the fields in raptures sweet.

The thought of violets meant florists’ shops,

And bows and pins, and perfumed papers fine;

And garish lights, and mincing little fops

And cabarets and songs, and deadening wine.

So far from sweet real things my thoughts had strayed,

I had forgot wide fields, and clear brown streams;

The perfect loveliness that God has made.—

Wild violets shy and Heaven-mounting dreams.

And now—unwittingly, you’ve made me dream

Of violets, and my soul’s forgotten dream.

~ Alice Dunbar-Nelson