First blossoms;
Flowers before leaves,
Blackthorn.
The Blackthorn (Prunus spinosa) that grows through the hedge in my garden is flowering and on this dull wet day, the flowers shine brightly. It’s only a few days since the Spring Equinox!
Blackthorn is the fourteenth tree in the Celtic Tree Ogham, STRAIPH. It is symbolised in the balance between light and dark. Physically, the tree is challenging as it grows into an impenetrable thicket. Its thorns being very sharp, the tree is a safe haven for nesting birds.
Ashley
A Different View 
I have such a hedge too, Ashley and it is the best guard from any unwelcome intruders! Perfect for the birds!
Joanna
Dear Joanna, as much as I try to repair the hedge at ground level, cats still manage to find a gap! 😉 Thank you for your visit here. 🤗🌹💚
You are welcome, dear Ashley!
Joanna
The blackthorn is a mini-bird sanctuary, with its protective thorns and gorgeous flowers! Nice hokku, Fraxinusan!
Thank you, Edo-san for your lovely comments. With the flowers showing before the leaves I thought we’d had a smattering of snow overnight. Then I put my glasses on! 😉
Ah, beautiful blossoms, haiku and Ogham, Ashley.
Happy Monday, my friend. 🙏🌸
Dear Marina, thank you. Wishing you a wonderful spring. 🤗🙋♂️
Thank you, my dear Ashley! 🌱🙏
Hello Ashley, I enjoyed reading your post and about the blackthorn. I love the idea of it being balance of light and dark… Just as the light and dark is in the balance at the moment. 💜🙋🪻🌺🥀🌻
Hello Morag, thank you for your comments. I hope all is well with you & still enjoying your new life “up north”. 🌹💚🤗🙋♂️
Thank you, we are enjoying life, moving into different seasons weather wise and home wise. We have moved in and are staying in the lower level while they continue to work on the top level. We are comfortable and warm and we feel like we are home. That’s the best feeling! 🌺♥️🤗🙋
Brilliant writing as always, Ashley. It’s been quite soggy here in southwest Colorado the past few days as well, with snow and rain and chilly temperatures. It’s good to see your blackthorn blooming. Life abounds, even in inclement weather. 😊🙏
Hi Mike, great to hear from you. I’m always on the lookout for the blackthorn flowers as they are one of the first native trees to flower. It is still dull & wet here but with more flowers soon to arrive we will be uplifted. 😊🙋♂️
¡Son preciosas! Ya vuelven las flores y nos alegran el día. Feliz martes, querido amigo.
Dear Barbara, these little blossoms on the blackthorn are beautiful & soon there will be many more! Feliz primavera 💐🙋♂️
The blackthorn (prunus spinosa) is very popular in Navarra and neighboring provinces. With its fruit the delicious “Pacharán” is made, already well known and drunk in Navarra since the Middle Ages. Un abrazo 🙋♂️🍷
Hi Sabius, I’m sorry to say that I’ve not sampled Pacharan but on looking it up it sounds delicious. Perhaps there is a bottle of it on your blog’s drinks cabinet? You will have to point it out. Later in the year, the berries of the blackthorn, sloes, will be collected by some to add to their bottles of gin! Sloe berries are very tart, so I wonder how they taste in a liqueur? Salud 🍷🍷🙋♂️
I do love Blackthorn, and so interesting that the flowers appear before the leaves.
I do have some slow gin that a friend made as a Christmas present. 🙂
Thanks for your comments, Sharon. I see from a previous comment from Spain that the sloes are used there (Navarra province) in a liqueur! 😋🍷😋😋
Another beautiful magic wand, Ashley! I can only imagine you have a whole orchard in your garden with this lovely collection of Ogham sticks! 🌸
Sunra, I have a tiny backyard garden. However, I live in County Armagh which is known as the Orchard County & something I must do this year is take some photos of the apple blossom when it arrives in May. Thanks for visiting here 🍎🙋♂️
Sounds lovely! I was delighted to visit! ☺️ 🌸
And suddenly….. Spring has Sprung! 🌸🌺🌷🌿🪻
Cheers, Gail, it’s just the best time of year, if only the rain would ease. ☔😊🙋♂️
Right! We had 5” of rain last weekend alone. 💦
Dull and wet, yet still it is Spring….. As your beautiful picture reveals 😊
The sun will come eventually. 🌞👍
Thank you, Ute. It came out for a couple of hours this afternoon 🌞👍
The blackthorn has been out for a couple of weeks here, it’s lovely!
Blackthorn may be an untidy tree but I love its flowers. 🙏
Happy Spring! 🌸🌸🌸
Thank you, Migy, sending good wishes to you for a wonderful Spring! 🤗🌹🙋♂️
“on this dull wet day, the flowers shine brightly” They always seem to do just this in inclement weather…perhaps they are cheering us on and up! 🙂
Of course they are! Those little flowers make me smile & dispel gloomy feelings. Thank you for your visit to my blog. You are very welcome here. 😊
For a dull day, you at least found really beautiful blossoms to photograph.
Thank you for you comment & for visiting my blog 🙋♂️
I often wonder how birds manage entering such thorny bushes – I have hawthorn around my garden and sometimes my sparrows are being chased by a local bird of prey and they really dive into the bushes – you wonder how on earth they don’t get pierced by thorns!
Indeed, Carol. I see it here too, only it’s usually one of the neighbourhood cats that has the birds diving into the hedge! I’m on the edge of town & the only raptor I’ve seen around here occasionally, is a sparrowhawk. Thank you for visiting my blog. Enjoy what’s left of Sunday. 😊🙋♂️
TANTI SALUTI
Thank you. 🙏
A TE