Wednesday 13 April 2011

Walking the Territory - Spring


Among the ivy there is new green


and the hawthorn trees are in exuberant fresh leaf

Everything isn't lovely however - among the nettles (no, I don't do nettle soup) are unfolding leaves of giant hogweed. It looks quite attractive when it's new, but it's decptive. It towers to about seven feet high, shading everything else out, seeds as prolifically as dandelions and has roots that go down as far as hell. And, as if that wasn't bad enough, they sting worse than nettles and can cause terrible burns to unwary children. Our council is quite good at spraying the stuff on the roadsides, but it seems impossible to keep up with it.

On the other hand, however, we do have the cuckoo flower, just getting into its stride. The pear blossom is out and the early flowering cherries,and I heard the first skylark.

2 comments:

Pom Pom said...

Hi Elizabeth!
Oh, the greens of Scotland are lovely! We are beginning to enjoy the blossoms here in Denver. I think I had better start taking my camera everywhere! Around every corner there seems to be a miraculous tree!

Forthvalley scribe said...

Thank you Pom Pom! This is the most beautiful time in Scotland - when the sun shines the sea is so blue, and all the green so vivid and bright yellow gorse everywhere. I hope your spring is as lovely!