Nature Notebook: Wood Anemone
A pretty spring flower of ancient woodlands
Today I’d like to encourage you to go and find something that strikes you as particularly pretty and a fill a journal spread about it. You could draw it, write about it, or a combination of the two. You could do a very simple doodle of it and label the parts, or you could write down things you notice about it, or a series of questions you have about it. Just take some photos, get your pens and paper out and see where they take you.
This morning, I did just this with wood anemones - one of my favourite spring blooms. Here’s what I came up with…
Each time I fill out a spread in my journal I work in a different way. Sometimes I write more about my feelings than the things I have come across. Sometimes I get deep in a research hole and fill a page full of facts.
As I said in this post, I don’t think that knowing all the correct botanical or scientific words for things are the most important part of connecting with nature, but since I am leading nature walks and also studying foraging I am at least trying to learn some of these words. I’m still a bit baffled by leaf shapes (hence my scribbling on point 3 above) and no matter how hard I try I can’t seem to pronounce or remember the word ‘myrmecochory’… but that’s OK, I remember the ant fact!
The most important thing, as ever, is to get out there and notice. Follow your curiosity and see where it takes you.
P.S. How great is the word ‘caruncle’?
Sources and Further Reading
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A lovely bit of serendipity here! I noticed this little flower when I was out by the river the other day. No idea what it was, I 'Google lensed' it and was informed it was wood anenome. As I walked I repeated the name a few times to try and get it to stick in the brain. And now I've got all this extra detail about it! Thanks dear Zazzie
Your journal pages are lovely. Wood Anemones are one of my favourite Spring flowers too, I always make a point of visiting my favourite patches of them.