This vision of star magnolia drew me down the steps yesterday…
Star Magnolia on March 29, 2021, Winterthur, Delaware
I never reached them, waylaid by the sight of one Ipheion – spring star, spring starflower – which, taking advantage of the disorderly progression of this Spring –
Ipheion in front of the bole of a Sargent Crapapple tree on March 29, 2021
jumped from its assigned enclave at the foot of a Red crabapple tree
to be with the far larger Sargent crabapple tree which has yet to leaf.
Sargent Crabapple stand, Winterthur, Delaware
It stands there, preening, while its fellow jumper lies on the ground, its daring jump failed and its stem broken.
The Spring is two weeks delayed this year.
The lone Ipheion would have joined its former companions in massed, unmissable glory if it had waited two more weeks in its assigned place.
Ipheion circling a Red Crabapple tree, Winterthur, Delaware on March 22, 2020
But, why be one among many when your fate, like a Siren of old, is to dazzle alone to waylay admiring mortals?
