Flowering Dogwoods Flowering

 

From a distance,

they are splendid in the spring.

These lovely understory trees

featuring delicate blossoms

with pure white sepals.

And close-up, they offer

an elaborate view

of their intricacies.

Protruding from the borders

of hardwoods in May,

in Michigan;

Flowering

Dogwoods

flowering.

© 2026 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations: Kent County - Michigan

The Promise

 

The unassuming bud

contains no envy

for the beauty of the blossom.

Rather, it consecrates.

Is honored to enclose its contents. 

To open the certainty of growth.

The promise of fulfillment.

The fulfillment of the promise;

like a mother giving birth.

The child being born.

A unique individual,

blossoming with promise.

© 2023 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. 2. 3. 4. Home Garden - Cannonsburg, Michigan

Black Locust ~ White Blossoms

 

Oh!

The sweet fragrance

rising from the white clumps

of Black Locust blossoms.

The southwest wind

conveys the heavy perfume

long before my approach.

Stopping on my run

for a drink of water,

I see hundreds of bees

attracted, addicted.

I examine closely

the magnificence

of its inflorescence;

curled and convoluted

clusters of sheer joy.

A lavish display

of pure pageantry.

© 2021 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations: Grattan Township - Kent County - Michigan

wetland ornaments

 

buttonbush blossoms

spherical inflorescence

wetland ornaments

© 2021 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

Grattan Township - Kent County - Michigan

Words Accumulating

Blossoms blossoming.

Ferns unfurling.

Flowers flowering.

Leaves leafing.

 Clouds raining.

Words accumulating.

© 2020 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

1. Mom & Dad's Farm

2. Home Woods

3. Home Garden

4. Home Woods

5. Taylor Reservoir - Tin Cup, Colorado

6. 7. 8. 9. Home Library

Uncommon Gift

The perfume of honeysuckle
draws me closer
to these common blossoms.

The blossoms of the common
become uncommon
when isolated as individuals,
when viewed up close.  

Here, along the edge
of the woods,
here, in the understory,
below the canopy of trees;

here, where there's
just enough light
for these pure white
blossoms to flourish,

I pause to examine
the inflorescence
-- this poetic word 
borrowed from Botany --
the unique structural design
of the flower's parts,

irregular, intricate, interesting,
immaculate, incredible, impressive.

This Poet of Botany
sees the ordinary
as extraordinary;

gives this 
uncommon gift
to you. 

© 2019 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations:

Home Woods - Cannonsburg, Michigan 

The Orchardist

He looks over the old,
abandoned orchard;
rows of overgrown apple trees,
their gangly branches
arching to touch 
other trees' branches,
crammed with vertical suckers,
unpruned for twenty years,
leaves of apple trees
still breathing the air.

Outer twigs on the fringe
still producing sparse blossoms
of pinkish-white,
still carrying their sweet fragrance, 
the signature of spring,
to the old orchardist,
recalling the promise;

memory an overcast dream
now fringed with loss.

A Brown Thrasher serenades
from the dense inner leaves,
an oriole calls from high
on a dead branch,
honeybees still visit for pollen.

*          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *

Come September,
blemished and shriveled apples
will ornament these old branches,

will still be found
by climbing raccoons;
opossums, deer, even foxes
may eat of the fallen fruit

and enjoy it with wild abandon,
not noticing the imperfections
of these small, wrinkled apples,
or the absence of the old orchardist.

© 2015 Richard Havenga

Photo Locations: 

Vergennes Township, Kent County, Michigan

Dogwood Spring

after long winter

we wait and anticipate

white Dogwood blossoms

©  2014  Richard Havenga

Learn much more about Dogwoods at: "The Understory of Dogwoods" April 25, 2012.

Flowering Dogwood - Cornus florida

Photo Location:  Ada, Michigan

El Greco

El Greco  (1541 - 1614)

Photo Location:  South Valley Farms - (Almonds)  Wasco, California  

Almond - Prunus dulcis

Click on photos to enlarge, click on El Greco, and Almonds (above) to learn.