Interstate 20, between Vicksburg and Jackson, is lined with cotton, corn, and soybean fields. My husband and I had to make several trips to Jackson this week, and one of those fields kept calling my name. It was just begging to have its picture taken, and I couldn't resist taking my camera along on our trip yesterday.
That particular field called my name last Fall, too, when it looked like this ...
But yesterday — oh, my goodness — it was a glorious meadow of beautiful lavender wildflowers!
I wished for a blue sky for a background, but even with the cloudy skies yesterday, the field was truly breathtaking.
A winter annual that blooms in the spring, Henbit is found throughout the United States. It's probably not very popular when it's growing in your grass or cotton fields, but, after seeing these pictures, perhaps the next time you see some on the side of the road, you will remember these exquisite little flowers hidden amongst all those purple "weeds."
I'm so glad I stopped to capture them while they were at their peak, because all up and down the highway, farmers are hard at work preparing their fields for planting — and my "field of lavender" will soon look like this ...
5 comments:
The first one is a perfect glimpse out our front door in the Delta, looking off across toward the bayou lined with trees.
The great quilts and blankets of the purple velvet are the between-lagniappe, put there for admiring in the first of the season, faithful in it returning.
I used to pull up great huge armfuls of the soft, tender little stems and flowers---it seems one great acre-covering plant, connected and clinging as you pull apart the tendrils. The rabbits just loved it---all moist and sweet and tender in the Spring.
And then---even such beautiful flowers can be considered worth sacrifice to First Turning---the true sign of Spring, as the sound of the great machines roaming the land and the unmistakable scent of that good Delta soil, rising from its long nap to get to its duties.
A scent like no other, primal and premonitioning the surge of growth and plenty.
Beautiful photos Janie, and thank you for the information about Henbit. I absolutely did not know this plant was related to lavender. We do think of it as a weed, and one of my flower beds is overflowing with it.LOL I have been waiting to get out there and remove it, and now When I do I will take the time to give it a closer look. As always thank you for sharing your gift of photography.
Sue
Janie,
dropping by to see what you've captured. I love henbit, I had forgotten the name though. As always love dropping by and seeing the beauty you have shared with us.
Have a great weekend.
Thanks for giving us the close-up view that we miss when speeding by on the Interstate! I wonder how those delicate little blossoms look after the stormy winds last night; perhaps they were close enough to the ground to be protected!
the lavender is beautiful..I've
always loved the purple weeds...
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