Pulsatilla vulgaris (pasqueflower)

Before and After

Posted on by Ann Mackay

NB: A note for WordPress Reader users – you need to click on the title of the post again to come out of the reader and go to the post itself. This allows you to see the whole of the top photograph. (Otherwise you may see just a tiny section!)

Once spring is underway, it gathers speed. For the past week I’ve been happily distracted from the garden by the company of a visitor, so have had less time to notice changes in the garden. Now that I have time to look around I’m impressed to see how much has grown and flowered in just a few days.

Blossom is everywhere, from the fruit trees in the garden to the ornamental cherries and crab apples on the green in front of our house. The daffodils have mostly gone over now, but the tulips are open and the first lilac flowers are out. Amidst the rush of flowery activity, I’ve had less time than I’d have liked to admire the pasqueflowers (above) before they too were going over.

This year I may have been too distracted to take much notice of the lovely purple pasqueflowers, with their charmingly fluffy buds and leaves, but I do still have the pleasure of their seed heads to come. These sway on their long stems in any breeze, with their silvery hairs glinting in the sun. Almost as pretty as the flowers! (And one of my cats used to think they made a grand toy for her to swat!)

Now I really need to get back out into the garden – everything happens so quickly out there in spring! 🌿

Pulsatilla vulgaris (pasqueflower) Seed Heads
The seed heads of Pulsatilla vulgaris (pasqueflower) are gloriously fluffy.
Unknown's avatar

Published by Ann Mackay

Photographer, mixed-media art adventurer and completely daft about plants.......

17 thoughts on “Before and After”

    1. Thank you! I’m so used to this plant that I didn’t make it clear that the flower and seed heads were both Pulsatilla vulgaris (common name pasqueflower). Sometimes I forget that not everyone is a UK gardener like me, hehe! 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

  5. Sometimes it’s blink and you miss them. Hope you can get out soon and enjoy the next stage of spring flowering. My garden is still bogged down with mud after all the rain. The grass in my back garden is a foot high!

    Liked by 2 people

    1. I’ve been able to spend much of the last couple of days working in the garden in glorious sunshine. Rain is forecast for tomorrow but we already need it. That should really get things going! I bet the wildlife loves your grass! 🙂

      Liked by 2 people

  7. Like Steve, my first thought was of our native Clematis seedheads. And you sure are right about the speed with which spring develops. I had the experience last night of looking at some photos, checking the dates, and thinking, “What? Two months ago?” The old saying holds: don’t blink, or you’ll miss it!

    Liked by 2 people

    1. Some wild winds this morning gave another twist on this: ‘don’t blink, or it will be blown away before you see it!’ But now the sun is shining brightly before the next squall, so I’m off outside for a little while… 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

    1. Thank you Tanja! They grow in the wild here too, but I don’t believe that there are many now. (The UK Wildlife Trusts describe it as ‘now rare’.) It’s probably a very good thing that they are popular as a garden plant, so unlikely to become extinct.

      Liked by 1 person

Leave a reply to Heyjude Cancel reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.