Wildflowers Or Weeds?

The last of flowers I received for my birthday 5 weeks ago have just been discarded. But I’ve picked these from one corner of the garden

Technically these are probably weeds – but I love them, and think they look pretty in my brown jug. These flowers go by various names – Cow Parsley, Wild Carrot, Queen Anne’s Lace – and here in Leicestershire, the somewhat ugly moniker ‘keck’

I vote for Queen Anne’s Lace!

Some varieties have tiny reddish purple dots at the centre of the florets – the story being that the monarch was making lace when she pricked her finger and a drop of royal blood fell onto her needlework.

Following that, they say, the plant was named after her!

Apparently throughout history this plant has been used as an antiseptic, a diuretic, a yellow dye, a contraceptive and a hallucinogenic. Personally, I just put it on the windowsill in a jug.

I bought the jug in about 1976 in Devon, from Shebbear Pottery, when I was a student on holiday. Back then, Clive Bowen had been in business about 5 years. The pottery is still going, thirty five years later and now CB is regarded as Britain's finest slipware decorator! Read about him here.

Hey, I'm a wildflower, growing in the sunshine,

Soaking up the way of life I was raised in,

running barefoot, blooming in a summer shower,

ponytail dancing

I can't help it. I'm a wildflower.

There’s a little cotton dress hanging in the closet,

I think I'm gonna borrow it, and wear it this weekend.

Painted my toes, bought some cherry lip gloss.

No rose, no daisy, can touch what I got

I'm just a girl that needs a little sun,

a little rain, an open field to play

I'm a wildflower