High Celsius Circium . . .
Thistle: genus Cirsium
(NYC 07 2019
July has baked in an actual sense. Hot days, humid, sun bright and still. New York City heats.
Somewhat in the shadows, ar the base of some shade trees, both native and immigrant thistle species of human stature may be found in vigorus bloom on the green West Side of Manhattan.
High Celcius Circium . . .
— rPs 07 31 2019
Bloomsday 2019 . . .
Trifolium pratense
Bloomsday on a Father’s Day Sunday, 2019 celebrates quite a packed, stacked, and weighty day for the wildflowers situated in sutu within a peak perlod of . . . bloom:
Chicorium
Chicory
(NYC 06 2019)
Malva
Mallow
(NYC 06 2019)
Brassica
Wild Mustard
(NYC 06 2019)
Solanum
Bittersweet Nightshade
(NYC 06 2019)
Circium
Canada Thistle
(NYC 06 2019)
ReJoyce and Enjoy!
(NYC 06 16 2019)
— rPs 06 16 2019
Postscript: Read WWV’s original Joycean odyssey here:
https://wildflowersofthewestvillage.com/2010/06/16/bloomsday/
Path and Pond . . .
Tulip Tree Flower
(NYC 05 2019)
Spring season stalwarts of the wildflower world are in full bloom throughoit the city as the month of May comes to a close.
Two of the most iconic can be found along two distinct spots: the shaded path and the sunny pond.
The park trail may well be lined by the subtle reds of the bushy wild red columbine, Aquilegia canadensis.
Aquilegia canadensis
(NYC 05 2019)
By the water, the full sun fuels the rich nectar of the wild iris Henry David Thoreau called the yellow flag, Iris pseudacorus.
Iris pseudacorus
(NYC 05 2019)
These are just two of the many wildflowers to be found flowering in the West Village and the rest of Manhattan during these salad days of spring. These living still lifes in situ make a great excuse for a walk in NYC’s park(s).
— rPs 05 31 2019
May Day 2019 . . .
Lush Lawn Still Life: Taraxicum officinale
(NYC 05 2019)
Today, the first day of the fifth month, a century to the day after the Cleveland socialist riots, the set date of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s epic novella May Day.
“May Day!” — def: distress signal
Here. Now. Happiness. Everything green seems to be in bloom in the West Village along the verdant basalt bluffs of the Hudson River.
Winged Liberty “Mercury” dime minted in 1919.
Once in the pocket of F. Scott Fitzgerald?
(NYC 05 2019)
— rPs 05 01 2019
Postscript: Link to an online copy of “May Day” by F. Scott Fitzgerald:
https://en.m.wikisource.org/wiki/May_Day_(Fitzgerald)/Chapter_I?fbclid=IwAR35fVS-XMY_htrkXtSPFV7YkhvRi5zvnkVG6_2NhO8uOyHRK-8Ezu5X8nw
Earth Day 49 . . .
The author of Philadelphia on the Fly celebrates Earth Day “by the book” . . .
(Planet Earth 04 22 2019)
Earth Day has reached the cusp of a human’s middle age. The planet remains older, larger, and more important than all of us people put together. Let us try, at least try, to be stewards and gardeners and protectors rather than mere users of our one and only green, white, and blue home.
Trout lily and others spring into being.
(04 2019)
Earth Day 2019.
— rPs 04 22 2019
Happy 9th Anniversary . . .
Lichen Spring
(NYC 03 2019)
March 22 on the calendar marks another year, nine (9!) years, of Wildflowers of the West Village.
Happy Anniversary . . .
The weather today, cold, wet, under a white lid of sky, matches the scene in 2010 when this monthly, sometimes more often adventure in urban botanicals began.
The blog format was a fresh, relevant way to spread one’s written words and images in 2010. Social media had yet to spread its petals in full. Outdoor writing from the perspective of sport had by then through two books established my published, authorial voice, a voice that enjoys harmony.
Wildflowers, such a part of the setting of fishing and birding, have always been in my sight, perceived by scent, and a favorite subject of line drawings. Wildflowers hold a diaspora of fascinations with the added advantage of statis for the visual artist. Fish and birds are difficult to capture. Plants, fixed, quiescent, make much more agreeable sitters for the still life sketch and the photograh.
The impact of one blog, one post to that blog, would be just like a snowflake stuck on a window if not for the incredible archival capability of this online internet format. The weight of nine years, some 165 posts, gives one the feeling some good natural fieldwork has been done. There may even be a book in there!
The year now sees the first snowdrops and croci have appeared along the Hudson. The first dafodils have already been sighted. Bright and dry, or white and damp, the sky and air of Manhattan again the freshest of the year. Again the pastel colors emerge to season the brown, white, and blue palate of the cold leafless months. Again another year of Wildflowers of the West Village.
Sprung!
(NYC 03 2019)
— rPs 03 22 2019
Postscript: Revisit the post that started it all by following this link:
https://wildflowersofthewestvillage.com/2010/03/22/welcome/
Ides of March 2019 . . .
Liquidambar styraciflua
(NYC 03 2019)
for New Zealand
Quiet,
Silence.
Riot,
Violence.
Lost cause.
Lost mosques.
Christchurch;
We search.
Gentle
Islands;
We are
Crying.
“Kai su,
Teknon.”
— rPs 03 15 2019
