Spring is blooming all around us. As we have been walking around with the kids we like to teach them the names of some of the flowers we walk past. Somethings like Sweet Williams are really just common garden flowers, but they hold special childhood memories for me. They always make me think of my mom. We have some Common Sage that we planted last year as an annual, but wintered over and is a beautiful bush.
We also found wild things like Milkweed and Wood Anemone that are easy to walk by without giving a second look. While the Milkweed is not fully in bloom, we stop at every plant we see to look for Monarch butterfly caterpillars. We also found things like Fleabane Daisies and Pineapple Weed that are probably more of weeds, than the beautiful flowers that I see them as on the trail edge. Pineapple Weeds (or wild chamomile) is another flower whose spring blooming brings back childhood memories. This one of an old Great Uncle who taught me that you could eat the buds as a tasty snack. Something that I am not sure my wife has enjoyed me teaching the kids. At least when she sees them shoving something they found on the ground into their mouth.
While none of these names may really help them in their adult life, I hope they wont forget that these plants have names. I hope they will remember some of them with fond memories like I do. Maybe they will also teach their kids to forage some wild chamomile on the trail.
