Where the Wild Flowers Bloom

Consider the lilies in the field ... They toil not, neither do they spin.

 ~

Our recent weekend in Surry County yielded a number of bucolic sights,

from the cows grazing in front of the River House mansion 

to wild flowers, hidden marshes,

and newly planted fields of wheat, corn, and cotton.

Today, I want to share some of the wildflowers we found "arrayed in glory."

These bright golden flowers were growing along an asphalt drain.

I think they are wild coreopsis or calendula.

Here's a bank of field daisies, one of my favorite wildflowers:

 

Daisies are so friendly and cheerful.

A delicate pink wild rose we sighted along a weathered fence.

There are two similar wild roses,

the wild prairie rose and the wild Virginia rose; they look the same to me.

Considering its location near an old southern mansion,

I'll have to label this a Virginia rose:

Clover blossoms snuggle here with tiny whispers of pink phlox

and what we used to call "stickers":

Queen Anne's Lace, also called wild carrot:

I've often wondered how the name Queen Anne's Lace came to be.

According to http://www.carrotmuseum.co.uk/

(no kidding, the British have a museum devoted to all things carrot),

Queen Anne, second daughter of James II, was an accomplished lace maker,

and she one day challenged her ladies-in-waiting to a contest to see

who could make lace in the same pattern as the wild carrot flower, 

a novelty in English gardens at the time. 

Calling the lacy blossoms Queen Anne's Lace is romantic and fitting enough,  

and much preferable to its other name, the painfully prosaic "cow parsley."

~

Tomorrow a visit to fields of grain and an emerald pond.

And soon, I'll reveal the creature I happened upon.

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