Spring is springing - what is your favourite flower and your favourite wild flower. Why?

Bluebells. They change the appearance of the land around the trees in such a lavish fashion that Ì just have to “stand and stare”. I stare from a distance, close up and from different angles, willing myself to absorb their brilliance.

I’m fortunate that there are lots of different locations with stunning bluebell displays near me. I have loads of photographs but they don’t capture the magnificence of the moment in the way that looking intently can.

I think theres something about bluebell woods that give us a sort of instinctive magical reaction, I don't know if the smell or what, but they totally transform the atmosphere of a wood.

I think theres something about bluebell woods that give us a sort of instinctive magical reaction, I don't know if the smell or what, but they totally transform the atmosphere of a wood.

A fitting impression.

The response from  TheCatWoman reminded me of it. 

It was one of the easier poems that we learned off by heart at school and it was the one that resonated most.

I love this poem!

LEISURE

WHAT is this life if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare?—

No time to stand beneath the boughs,
And stare as long as sheep and cows:

No time to see, when woods we pass,
Where squirrels hide their nuts in grass:

No time to see, in broad daylight,
Streams full of stars, like skies at night:

No time to turn at Beauty's glance,
And watch her feet, how they can dance:

No time to wait till her mouth can
Enrich that smile her eyes began?

A poor life this if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare

                                     W. H. Davies

“… a poet and she didn’t know it”.

'..in which to sit and stare.' Maybe you'll see a fairy there?

TheCatWoman said:

theres something about bluebell woods that give us a sort of instinctive magical reaction

That’s precisely it and it is something beyond description or replication in photography or art. They have an ethereal quality that draws one in. I’m hoping for some fine weather in the upcoming bluebell season in which to find a nice spot to sit and stare. 

Their delicate / fresh / sweet fragrance profile (of the UK native species) is often referred to as being "green-floral" and it has been described as similar to green violet leaves, hyacinth and light musk.

By contrast, if you see "Bluebells", yet experience their fragrance as more akin to onions, or a barely perceptible scent - they are likely plants of the introduced Spanish Bluebell.

For me, it is the hyacinth-like notes which bring the fragrance magic of the UK native species.