An Evening Walk Amongst the Foxgloves

The hedges in Harrowbarrow, and Cornwall in general, have been evolving with the seasons. Back in February, you may recall, Christine's favorite flower, the daffodil, adorned the hedges. Now it's the foxgloves' turn. We went for a short walk last night down our road on the same road that Gwendolyn and I walked along on our date a few weeks ago.

Two weeks ago, the hedges were covered with bluebells and primrose.

Now, however, they are covered by foxgloves

and thickly matted with ferns.

The thing that you notice about foxgloves, once they begin to appear, is that they are everywhere. I see them lining the train tracks on my travels to and from Plymouth. We see them along the roads in our village and out near the coast. We first noticed the foxgloves on the hedges in Cornwall and Devon when we visited here for Roland's and Maria's wedding in 2004. We've been waiting for their appearance and we haven't been disapppointed. Usually there are just a few clumped together,

but often there are bunches grouped together. Notice our favorite tree tunnel in the background.

Here's one more shot of a nice group of foxgloves,

and a close-up of the petals.

Just before the foxgloves we were treated to about a month of bluebells. They are just about gone. Like the foxgloves and daffodils, the bluebells covered the hedges like a blanket

but they also covered the forest floors near our village,

and the slopes adjacent to the coast. This one near my field site in Devon.

The flowers of the bluebells are rather small,

but the cumulative effect of so many blooms gives a bluish hue to the landscape. Here's a parting shot: bluebells near Great Mattiscombe Sands in Devon, which is on the South West Coast Path about a mile from my field site. The bright yellow flowers are buds on the gorse bush. Gorse is common on moor land and blooms year-round, but it is particularly colorful right now.