Spring altar laid on weathered wooden bench with at least 16 kinds of flowers and a half dozen kinds of foliage.Flowers are in various improvised vases- coloured votive candle holders, clear glass, earthenware pots etc. Lots of yellow including Marsh Marigold, Dandelions, Draba, Tulip and Corydalis; some blue/violet- Squill, Hepatica and Violet; white- Sweet Coltsfoot, Anemone, Violet and barely pink Cherry. Foliage- leaves and/or buds, catkins of Aspen and Balsam Poplar, Willow, Saskatoon, Dogwood, Honeysuckle etc. In the centre are the bird figurines: a shiny porcelain penguin in featureless white, and a smaller translucent glass owl with feather shapes molded in the glass and light blue eyes. The sun is shining and the ground around is littered with last year's leaves.

Part of the altar. Pale yellow Oxlip Primrose, deep gold Marsh Marigold and Corydalis and palest pink Nanking Cherry flowers along with several kinds of foliage in shades of green, purple tinged and bronze surround two bird figurines. There is a shiny porcelain penguin in featureless white, and a smaller translucent glass owl with feather shapes molded in the glass and light blue eyes. Mom collected penguin items for years, and Aunt D. collected owls so these are meant to represent the two sisters, but also to suggest Bird Goddess, one of the most ancient deities and connected to the Baltic/Latvian Great Mother (Mara or even Ragana! see several of my blog posts for more on that theme, link in bio).

Detail of altar of wild and garden flowers and foliage, laid on a weathered wooden bench. In this view we see 2 small deep burgundy votive candle holders used as vases; one centre left is decorated with white dots and another to the right is decorated with a curlicue/scrollwork pattern in white. The left one holds several short stems of mustard like 4 petalled Draba flowers as well as several stems of native Corydalis with blue green lacy leaves and clusters of yellow narrow tube-like flowers; as well there is a single large (by comparison only!) tulip flower of deep gold with white tips on the 6 tepals. The one to the right holds around a dozen tiny violet coloured violet flowers, which look tiny even in the small glass vessel plus a few bits of not fully opened balsam poplar foliage.

1- As a youth I picked early #wildflower bouquets for Mom's birthday + #MothersDay When I moved back + planted spring flowers the bouquets grew; after Mom's passing, they became #spring celebrations of #rebirth the start of #Latvian #TimeOfFlowers + #GreatMother
vids to follow
#PaganSky #Alberta 🌱🌿

A single bare pale waxy green stem rises about a foot from the soil ( we see only the upper part)topped with 3 leaves each composed of 3 narrow stronbgly toothed fresh medium green leaflets and a small cluster of purple pink buds with a single open flower. You might not immediately peg this as a member of the mustard/cabbage/cress family Brassicaceae, but the 4 simple petals over a bit of a tube might give you a hint!Afternoon sun is mostly catching the flower and leaflets, but the background is a mix of sun highlights and dark shadows among the dense growth of the tiny Anemone ranunculoides, with its terminal palmate leaves finely toothed, dull dark green blending to wine violet in centre, each bearing a single bud.

A cluster of small natural form tulips rises between rocks, with a large rounded speckled pinky granite behind. The many leaves are long and narrow, a bit wavy and folded up from the middle on each side, a waxy pale blue green, all rising from the ground and arcing outwards, not too high. In the centre are several flower stems bearing a total of 5 flowers plus some buds. Flowers are white with 3 shortish triangular petals and outside that 3 longer narrower sepals. Next to the tulip on each side are low mounding/mat like plants of Draba with tight spiky dark green leaves and tiny flowers that nearly cover the plants, though they are fading now. Also a single tiny golden flowered seedling tulip of another sort to one side.

It seems like the #TimeOfFlowers #season has barely begun and I'm already hopelessly behind on sharing photos! These are from 10 days ago, some finished or on the way out, lots of new things popping up.. #garden #RockGarden #spring #NaturalGardening #Alberta #Canada #z3 🌱📷

Preparations for the "Temps de flors" 2025 from May 10 to 18 in Girona, Catalunya, Spain.
#tempsdeflorsgirona #tempsdeflors25 #flowers #timeofflowers #djipocket2

Two fairly large flowers of an open cupped shape with 6 petals overlapping at the base, spreading apart farther out. The flowers are medium violet and lightly fuzzy on the outside surface, pale greyish lavender with many fine lines from base to tip on the inside. To the left we are looking almost straight into the first flower, with only a bit of some petal tips that curve back inward showing the outer surface. The other flower to the right is sideways to us so we see the backs of a couple of petals. In the centre of the flower on the left is a tiny mostly black bee moving on the mass of pale gold stamens.Background is out of focus with the green of moss and criss-crossing dry stems from last year's plants.

Close view, same bee and flower, a tiny black bee hangs from a mass of golden stamens in the centre of a pale lavender coloured flower in front of out of focus wide petals with fine lines from base to tip and dusted with pollen grains. The bee has some shiny bits like part of its nearly triangular head, other parts have fine fuzzy hairs. It is dusted with pollen, even some on its antennae.

Another close view, we see a bit more of the bee's abdomen, with faint lighter striping.

In the #Latvian #pagan tradition, we are now in the #TimeOfFlowers and they are popping up more each day in the #garden (+ wild but slower!) #Bees are ready! This tiny person on Pulsatilla nuttalliana North American Pasqueflower in the garden. #spring #PaganSky #BloomScrolling #insects #Alberta

tiny dark native bee, rather ant shaped, with a bit of iridescence , pale fuzz on legs, head, upper body and faint stripes on abdomen, sits on the edge of a bright yellow Crocus flower. It is dotted with grains of pollen matching the flower

A small native bee is perched on a partly open pussywillow with some silvery fuzz at the base of the catkin, some pink unopened pollen cases and some open stamens. The bee faces away from us, we see its pointy back end, dark with faint fuzzy white stripes and it appears to be light fuzzy underneath and on the upper thorax- behind the head. The catkin is on a red-brown willow stem with another unopened silver catkin and blue sky behind/above.

pt 2 In the Latvian division of the year, this marks the beginning of the #TimeOfFlowers #bees #flowers #greening of the land, the return of #Saule #Sun are associated with this time, and of course seasonal agrarian traditions. #nature #pollinators #pagansky #Alberta #BorealForest