Down the Primrose Path

I awoke this morning thinking about beautiful garden paths

and the idea of the metaphorical primrose path came to mind.

I had always heard people say in admonition to someone

that they were being 'led down the primrose path,'

a metaphor introduced by Shakespeare in Hamlet in 1600:

But, good my brother,
Do not, as some ungracious pastors do,
Show me the steep and thorny way to heaven;
Whiles, like a puff'd and reckless libertine,
Himself the primrose path of dalliance treads ... 

                            --from www.straightdope.com

I found some more interesting information

in the Oxford English Dictionary.

First of all, primroses are a centuries-old wildflower.

The term is from Old French primerole / primula

which loosely meant 'firstling of spring'

and referred alternately to cowslip:

en.wikipedia.org

and also to field daisies:

www.123rf.com

And the term primrose also refers to these little pink gems 

that I've seen growing snug in the grass 

along the roadways here in Virginia:

en.wikipedia.org

So imagine a primrose path with any of those three wildflowers growing alongside.

But why imagine, when there are a few photos out there?

I figured some creative person probably planted a real primrose path

with hybrid plants and sure enough, they did. 

Here is one:

www.fernrocklandscapes.com

Here's a path in France lined with wild primrose

from www.footpathtofrance.wordpress.com:

www.footpathtofrance.wordpress.com

Being led down the primrose path may be a metaphorical warning,

but heading down the real thing in early spring...lovely.

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