Spring colours. Red, lilac, pink, white, yellow, blue, violet and their hues.

In Spring, wherever you turn your head you find something blooming, flowering or singing. Every year I discover something new in apparently familiar environment — that's the beauty of observing the Nature. Red is my favourite colour — to my eye, without something red the scene lacks verve, impetus, energy, passion. Even a drop of red makes everything look more vivid.

Red geranium flower (Pelargonium hortorum).
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Opening poppy buds (field poppies). (© 2011 LightColourShade. All rights reserved)

Poppy flower (field poppy). (© 2011 LightColourShade. All rights reserved)

Poppy flowers (field poppies) and buds in the wind.
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Poppy flower (field poppy) with a bud.
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According to Greek mythology, Asphodel meadows is a neutral land where the souls of people who were neither good nor evil in their earthly lives dwell. One of these useful tales to manipulate the plebs.
Well, these are the asphodels of our world.

Onionweed, onion-leaved asphodel (Asphodelus fistulosus) 
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Purple starthistle, Centaurea calcitrapa.
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Spartium junceum (Spanish Broom or Weaver's Broom)
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This beautiful trailing plant commonly used in hedges gives off sweet fragrance and together with other sweet-scented plants gives the street an air of enchanted realm.

Fragrant wisteria, Wisteria amethist cluster against the light.
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Fragrant wisteria, Wisteria amethist cluster. (
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Fragrant wisteria, Wisteria amethist.
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Pale lilac geranium (Pelargonium graveolens) flowers.
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This is a posy of wildflowers I gathered in the field.

Spring wildflower nosegay with poppies and rock-rose flowers in a crystal vase
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Spring wildflower bouquet with poppies and rock-rose flowers.
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These wildflowers can only be found on the meadows that haven't been maimed with a lawnmower and therefore all plants survive.

Lavatera arborea or Malva arborea, the Tree Mallow, is a species of mallow native to the coasts of western Europe and the Mediterranean region, from the British Isles south to Algeria and Libya, and east to Greece.
Lavatera arborea tolerates sea water to varying degrees, at up to 100% sea water in its natural habitat, excreting salt through glands on its leaves.
The leaves of the species are used in herbal medicine to treat sprains, by steeping them in hot water and applying the poultice to the affected area, as well as an alternative to toilet paper. The seeds are edible and are known in Jersey as "petit pains", or "little breads".

Anchusa azurea (large blue alkanet) and Lavatera arborea (Tree Mallow)
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One of my favourite combinations of colours: lilac or purple, blue, pink, violet and their hues.

Echium plantagineum, Purple Viper Bugloss.
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Echium plantagineum, Purple Viper Bugloss flowers.
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Echium plantagineum, Purple Viper Bugloss flowers close-up. 
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All parts of the wildflower below are edible. Good to know in case you need to survive in the wild. On top of this, it's a very efficient remedy for many liver diseases (especially the seeds). Silymarin from milk thistle protects against liver damage and brain aging.
The seeds of the milk thistle have been used for 2000 years to treat chronic liver disease and protect the liver against toxins.
The only catch is that it's spiky, so you can hardly handle it with bare hands.

Milk thistle flower.
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Milk thistle flower head.
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This lovely fly (sometimes called flower fly or syrphid fly)  feed mainly on nectar and pollen as an adult, while the larvae (maggots) eat a wide range of foods. In some species, the larvae are saprotrophs, eating decaying plant and animal matter in the soil or in ponds and streams. In other species, the larvae are insectivores and prey on aphids, thrips, and other plant-sucking insects.

Male hoverfly on Field Scabious (Knautia arvensis).
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