These blue spring flowers are so precious, and in many parts of Germany quite rare too. So imagine my delight at finding hundreds of them in our little patch of woods this spring. I couldn’t contain myself and just had to pick some yesterday for an Easter Monday vase for Cathy‘s In a Vase on Monday meme.
Hepatica noblis
I love finding these flowers out in the countryside, especially when I get a hint of their elusive fragrance. And I have tried with little success to grow them in my garden… they don’t like to be disturbed during the rest of the year though, so best to leave them up in the woods!
Since it was Easter we had the Royal Worcester egg coddlers out for our Easter brunch, so I used one as a vase afterwards… if you don’t know what egg coddlers are, they are porcelain cups with a metal screw-top lid. The inside is buttered, and an egg is broken into it. Then the lid is closed tight and the whole thing is submerged in boiling water for exactly 8 minutes – and you get a perfect boiled egg, kept warm in its pot and no messy shell to dispense with! 😉
I think the blue of the Hepatica (Liverwort) matches this Easter card my Mum sent me so well!
This year the violets are flowering at the same time, and the colours clash terribly. Hepaticas really are much nearer to a true blue. I had a pink one once, but it has not reappeared this year, and a white one barely flowered for me. The native ones are definitely the best.
I have mentioned before how ugly I find the name… such beautiful delicate flowers are called “Liverwort” because the blotchy three-lobed leaves resemble the human liver. I would call them something more dignified, such as Blue Gold…
Other common names used in various parts of Germany are (roughly translated): Gold Clover, Hazel Flower, Heart’s Joy (I like that one!), or Heaven’s Flowers.
Now pay Cathy a visit at “Rambling in the Garden” to see what she and her followers have put in their vases this week. (Cathy’s “vase” looks delicious!)
🙂
Words and Herbs 