Mole's Springtime Musings

 

Spring is here! What were your musings and dreams made whilst by the winter fire? Were you browsing gardening catalogues, planning to reshape a garden border? Or were you thinking that perhaps a little more walking might good for health, figure and temper?

One dreary winter afternoon I dusted off long neglected book shelves and came across ‘The Concise British Flora in Colour’. This extraordinary volume of intricate and beautiful botanical paintings by the Reverend W. Keeble Martin covers 1486 differed species of British wild flowers. It took him sixty years to complete, with each plate is crammed full of beautiful watercolours. Keeble Martin painted them just as they are printed and if he felt the arrangement on any page could be improved he simply repainted each and every flower.

At this time of year it can be fun to turn to Martin’s plate 57 Primulacae.  Here you can find all the little plants currently in our hedgerows. There are nineteen plants in this plate from the Primula Vulgaris (how could this wonderful harbinger of Spring get such a Punk Rock name?) and he continues taking us by the hand through the Water Violet, the Cowslip, Oxlip, the Birds Eye Primrose and on further to Yellow Loosestrife, the Yellow Pimpernel, Creeping Jenny and finally to Chickweed Wintergreen.  Nature books are two a penny at fetes, jumble sales and in second hand bookshops. With one in your hand and a little effort your armchair adventure can now take off this very Spring.

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