Notes of spring

The calendar has already turned to June, but let’s take a couple of steps back to May and some small observations from spring. This year, the end of the school year was celebrated at the end of May instead of the (at least in my mind) more familiar beginning of June, and that threw off my sense of time a little as well. Sometimes you long so much for greenery and light that the beginning of spring feels painfully slow, until summer suddenly appears just around the corner.

Collection of Treasures is a photography project of mine that originally began on Instagram. Four times a year, once for each season, I create an arrangement of plants from my mother’s garden. Our own small townhouse yard would not provide such treasures all year round, whereas in Lammi I can choose from a much wider selection for inspiration.

Spring arrangements are always delicate. This time, the arrangement includes a pansy, crocus, wood anemone, Alpine pennycress, blue scilla, a forsythia branch, an iris leaf, and most likely a branch of Hungarian lilac. I needed my mother’s help afterward to identify it, as I found myself wondering from which part of the garden I had picked it.

At the beginning of their growth, iris leaves are almost pressed together, which made one fit easily into the background. The crocus flower opened slightly toward the camera when gently stroked and bent.

I browsed through a few years of spring photographs and it may be that the yellow forsythia has made its first appearance in the images this year!

You can find all four seasons on Instagram with the hashtag #harjunpelto.