the garden sorrel blooms in
early April
The wisteria petals droop and
the dogwood blossoms brown
The Queen Anne’s lace in mid-
may, tall and flowing unlike the
yucca bloom,
Upright and firm in mid-may as
well
The mimosa blooms all of a
sudden appear at the end of
may, on the side of the highway,
it’s pink plumes and wisps
looking delicate, soft
At the same time As the elder
flowers.
July is here
With the blooms of the rose of
Sharon
From cuttings I took last
summer
And the elderberries are in their
process of ripening
June was for the day lilies ; the
curling into nests of the Queen
Anne’s lace; the wild garlic to
go to seed.
The wild blackberries have
ripened ! Are ripening!
Golden chanterelles on the
hillsides of the woodland,
popping up near the
hardwoods.
begging me to follow their
yellow brick road. They shout
out in abundance.
As I melt in the heat of mid –
July , my heart also melts at the
sight of the river oats which
have formed and are swaying
over the shady creek. they
grow best rooted firmly in
watersides, as do I.
Yesterday I grabbed my muck
boots and tromped into the
swampy grassland where the
sumac berries are bursting.
Later today they will be
simmered and muddled,
quenching my thirst in the best
of ways.
mid- July, in the thick of a
foggy humid morning – I
stumbled upon two mushrooms
in the woods, the black trumpet
and the summer oyster, a pale
pearly white.
I woke up the morning after,
black trumpets heavy on my
mind. Upon returning to the
woods, I searched for the
camouflaged fungi and
emerged with a harvest.
I picked up a black walnut from
the forest floor,
rubbed it against my fingers
and breathed in its deeply
soothing + strong nutty scent ~
home.
And as my weary eyes adjusted
back to the city of Atlanta, they
were greeted by the soft
complexity of the first maypop
passionflower I’ve laid my eyes
on this season – able to induce
me into a restful state without
even imbibing its medicine. I am
excited for their fruits.
In the last week of July, in a
swamp off the country road, I
met abundance again. I
grasped the roots of a cattail,
which will now live on the edges
of my pond.
I shared ripe elderberries with
the birds, taking enough to
make winter medicine, to
nourish the immunity of me and
my beloveds. The jewelweed
blooms made their first
appearance, and an untimely
and premature goldenrod
splayed its yellow flowers
amongst the backdrop of
swamp mallow flowers.
On the second morning of
August I went into the
backwoods to collect river oats,
sensitive ferns, buttonbush for
bouquets
As I made it to the floodplain,
now flowing with life, a great
white egret passed overhead.
trumpet flower vines !
honeysuckle vines ! porcelain
berry vines ! Japanese hop
vines ! maypop vines !
I met Hawthorne yesterday!
Amidst all the pines. lives a
common Hawthorne tree. mild
medicine for the heart. I
chewed on the leaves, and
today I will visit again.
Born and raised in the suburbs of Atlanta, Shana Frankel has found a deep love of her home state through learning the patterns of the plants that surround her. She is a farmer by trade, and loves to write as a way to capture the knowledge she gleans from the field and the woods.
