Sunday, 29 March 2009

Word of the week - Pimavera

Spring is late this year so the primroses - les primevères in French - are still flowering in profusion. They are so lovely and seeing them flowering in likely and unlikely places gladdens my spirit.
In these mountainous parts we'll still be able to find them much later in the season once the snow melts from the top of the Jura. The meadows there often have examples of primroses, cowslips and oxslips growing side by side. Dr B doesn't really understand my enthusiasm for such things.
This past week we have often had three seasons in one day - snow, gales, rain and sunshine. The humble primrose seems to cope with it all and raise its pretty faces to the sky - they must be special they even survive and flourish in my neglected garden. Not surprising then that in some languages they actually take the name of Spring - and there was me thinking that primavera was the name of a pizza!

3 Comments:

Hansuli John Gerber said...

I love these flowers, so simple, and here before winter is really gone, to help us believe that spring is actually on its way.

janetlees said...

I think these are beautiful. We have some at Hadfield in Derbyshire out now. My favourite place to see them is in the high sided green lanes of Devon south of Dartmoor where Bob's sister lives.

Jane said...

Many, many years ago - when I was a child - I went "primrose scrumping" in woods of the Marquis of Hertford's estate - I seem to remember either he or his gamekeeper told us to get out. these days I just love to see primroses growing naturally on their primrose hills and hummocks. The flowers seems so sad when they are picked.