Honeysuckle
Honeysuckle in spring bloom
Honeysuckle
Orange and yellow blossoms
Reflecting the sun’s warmth
Twining about rugged bark
Soft, coaxing loveliness!
The honeysuckle, orange and tinged with white and yellow, took me by complete surprise this spring. How can I have missed it for so many years? How did it get so tall up in the Douglas fir? It faces northwest, trying to catch the sun, which it luckily does. It faces out on to a clearing. Amazing how it has grown so tall and beautiful without my observing it on my walks. I am not sure why I see it so well this year. Perhaps it was because so much was lost in the woods with all the winter storms. Treasures such as this one that were covered over are in the spotlight. Over time this honeysuckle has wended its way up the gnarled trunk, until it reaches the branches. This native, Lonicera ciliosa, is full with yellow to orange tinged trumpets. Another, but more elusive native, the twinberry or Lonicera involucrate, often blends into the woodwork, mimicking the red osier or currant. The insects, too, are attracted to these intensely sweet, nectar filled blossoms. The honeysuckle flirts outrageously with all the pollinators.
The clinging vine and the staunch Douglas Fir look newly married somehow, still in that passionate embrace of young physical need. At least the honeysuckle is glowing, blooming profusely in the shelter and cradling of the fir. Like many relationships, one stands firm and tall, pretty unbending while the other coaxes itself side to side, softly climbing and intertwining its life into the other creating something of extra beauty. The fir could stand alone, beautiful and be quite sufficient unto itself, but then comes this strange vine that has attached its life to it and made itself stable and lovely inside the strength of the other. Together they live for awhile. The fir, of course, is destined to live long and the honeysuckle more briefly, but neither seems to question the length of time that they will remain in their embrace. Now is everything that they want of each other.
“The greatest thing you’ll ever learn is just to love and be loved in return.” From Nature Boy with Nat King Cole
www.druidry.org/obod/trees/honeysuckle.html
Orange and yellow blossoms
Reflecting the sun’s warmth
Twining about rugged bark
Soft, coaxing loveliness!
The honeysuckle, orange and tinged with white and yellow, took me by complete surprise this spring. How can I have missed it for so many years? How did it get so tall up in the Douglas fir? It faces northwest, trying to catch the sun, which it luckily does. It faces out on to a clearing. Amazing how it has grown so tall and beautiful without my observing it on my walks. I am not sure why I see it so well this year. Perhaps it was because so much was lost in the woods with all the winter storms. Treasures such as this one that were covered over are in the spotlight. Over time this honeysuckle has wended its way up the gnarled trunk, until it reaches the branches. This native, Lonicera ciliosa, is full with yellow to orange tinged trumpets. Another, but more elusive native, the twinberry or Lonicera involucrate, often blends into the woodwork, mimicking the red osier or currant. The insects, too, are attracted to these intensely sweet, nectar filled blossoms. The honeysuckle flirts outrageously with all the pollinators.
The clinging vine and the staunch Douglas Fir look newly married somehow, still in that passionate embrace of young physical need. At least the honeysuckle is glowing, blooming profusely in the shelter and cradling of the fir. Like many relationships, one stands firm and tall, pretty unbending while the other coaxes itself side to side, softly climbing and intertwining its life into the other creating something of extra beauty. The fir could stand alone, beautiful and be quite sufficient unto itself, but then comes this strange vine that has attached its life to it and made itself stable and lovely inside the strength of the other. Together they live for awhile. The fir, of course, is destined to live long and the honeysuckle more briefly, but neither seems to question the length of time that they will remain in their embrace. Now is everything that they want of each other.
“The greatest thing you’ll ever learn is just to love and be loved in return.” From Nature Boy with Nat King Cole
www.druidry.org/obod/trees/honeysuckle.html
