Blossom Moon

I love the Native American way of naming the moons of the year for their character, for example 'Snow Falls Moon', 'Leaf Moon' or 'Frogs Croak Moon'.


I have oftened flirted with the idea of coming up with a year's worth of Moon-names myself, although I haven't done it so far. Yet I'm sure if I was to name the May moon it would have to be 'Blossom Moon'.


It has been such a dry, cold, spring here that everything in the garden and hedgerows has been held back - snowdrops, daffodils and bluebells several weeks later than their usual time of appearance. And yet when things have appeared, they seem to have put on a much more spectacular display than usual. Perhaps they're making up for lost time, or perhaps we're just so glad to finally see them, they seem much more impressive than usual. And this year the blossom seemed to come all at once, in a joyous froth of petals heralding summer with heedless abandon.
Just look at the photos I took a couple of weeks ago:

Then it was flowering cherry, juneberry, damson and blackthorn. Now, in the orchard there is pear and apple blossom, cherry, crabapple and very soon, quince. And from every hedgerow the breeze carries the sweet, uncanny fairy fragrance of mayblossom (hawthorn).

I'm sure the bees and the fairies must be as happy as I am to see such abundant beauty.