Queen of the May

Published on by Laura Bloomsbury

This time last year I had to take a train to see one of the sights I make pilgrimage to each May

It is no place in particular – any English country lane will do but now I walk out of the house and up by the mill pond and the farm tracks, the Queen of the May is in bloom.

Cow parsley or Wild Chervil for want of a better name – edible too for humans but most of all a feast for the eyes. In themselves, the flowers are not so spectacular – umbrels of white frosting on ferny foliage on but en masse they grow waist high to the trees and mass in their thousands for a spectacle that blurs into distant clouds

” lanes chock full to the milky brim
late May days still peppered with fragrant aniseed
cherished chervil memories of walks to the high verges
new creamy calves lying low in cow parsley”
(Anthriscus)

6 thoughts on “Queen of the May”

  1. Fabulous aren’t they? Our lanes are frothy now too, though not as frothy as last year. I think the snow here caused a lot of the hedgerow plants to die off so the cow parsley had more room. But seeing the lanes edged in white and backed by the May blossom is a wonderful sight and I count my blessings every time I leave my house.

    1. The May/Hawthorn blossom seems especially effulgent this year but maybe that’s because I am now seeing so much of it compared to the scattered plantings of London parks – counting my blessings too

      1. The blackthorn wasn’t so good here, but then a lot was cut down rather brutally last year and it takes a while to recover. On the other hand the hawthorn is very floriferous. White dominates at the moment, but the pink foxgloves will make their mark soon.

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