Cut wildflowers from the fields in back of Hillcrest Farm.

One of my favorite things (and, yes, I have a LOT of favorite things) is wildflowers. I have an appreciation for their natural beauty & function within the New Hampshire ecosystem. They attract the bees, butterflies, & birds that I so enjoy watching during the summer months, so I keep trying to add more variety while keeping in line with what is native & perennial.

Here, peonies, mountain laurel, & wildflowers from spring spruce up the dining room.

When the first buds of spring emerge, it’s an exciting time. While the peonies & hollyhocks & foxgloves are dramatic & showy, there’s something lovely in the humble & modest flowers that grow in the fields, fighting to exist & hoping to be of use. Their survival seems much harder to accomplish, as they have to fight weeds & blight & insects that would prey upon them. The big showy blooms have to be cultivated, so they have more help.

Peonies.

That isn’t to say that the showy blooms don’t have their place or aren’t special in their own right. Yet, there’s something understated & romantic in picking wildflowers. Bringing the organic inside cheers the heart & renews the soul. This makes me think of Marianne Dashwood, of course.

Goldenrod, Queen Anne’s lace, & thistles are among the rambling flowers of the fields.

Perhaps it’s my love of Romantic poetry, of Wordsworth & Keats, but I feel transported when I see those lovely, delicate petals & the bees collecting pollen. It’s amazing how bees can take pollen & transform it into honey, in a magical alchemy found in the natural world. Humans could never replicate the delicate miraculous feats of nature. It’s humbling to witness.

Flowers just make everything better.

Happy hydrangeas.