Trailing Arbutus, 2024

Trailing Arbutus

Trailing arbutus

First flower of Spring

Bashfully hiding away

I seek under leathery leaves in the moss

Til your soft petals I spy one glad day

~

Your pink and your creamy white blossoms peek out

From the ground which you hug tight and dear

The perfume of stately old ladies inhale

I cherish your fragrance all year

~

Your petals and blossoms make me pause with delight

As I pinch you and drink in the smell

Then I freeze you in photos and wish I could just

Save your sweet lovely perfume as well.

~

So stop to behold

Let your mind drift away

To days filled with teacakes and lace

Where ladies and gents

Stoop to drink in the scents

Of the trailing arbutus display

~

You’re here then you’re gone

So I must slip away

To the hillside where you lavishly grow

I’ll drink in your beauty

I’ll breathe out a thanks

To the One who created you so.

~

Sweet trailing arbutus

‘Tis goodbye for the season

But your memory lives deep in my heart

And come this time next year

I’ll come find you anew

And we’ll meet as we met like before

For now, we have memories, fond and alive

To carry us back to the woods

Where we’ll promise in Spring

In the earth that’s to come

To find trailing arbutus once more.

~

 

Can you tell that the trailing arbutus is my delight?

Once thought to be the first wildflower which the pilgrims spotted after enduring that horrible winter after landing in Plymouth, I can see why the Mayflower, as it is often called, brought them delight and cheer.

The trailing arbutus is a symbol of hope.

It bursts out in abundance when other Spring wildflowers are still bashfully testing the teasing Springtime temperatures. But you have to get down close to the ground if you want to find the arbutus, for it blooms underneath the leathery evergreen leaves.

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The trailing arbutus is a plant that you can easily pass over while hiking, but I hope you don’t!

On Video

Get up close and personal with the trailing arbutus on this YouTube video, where I discover plenty around our homestead!

Where to find Trailing Arbutus

Look for the trailing arbutus near to hiking trails, alongside your driveway if you’re blessed to live near a forest, or along the roadside in the country.

The trailing arbutus thrives where there is microrhizal fungi, and in acidic soils. It is actually a part of the blueberry family, along with mountain laurels and azaleas. Delightfully, we have an abundance of all of those plants on our property here in upper East Tennessee. For that, we feel exceedingly blessed!

Past and Present

I have written about the trailing arbutus before, ever since discovering it a few years back.

This year, our arbutus is showing off proudly, and as of the writing of this blog post, we still have some pink and white blooms out on our banks, but they are beginning to come to the end of their season.

Feeling Poetic

I’ve never written a poem about a plant before now, but that was kind of fun.

Look up the trailing arbutus and see if you can find some in your area!

Also, be on the lookout for a new video coming out soon on my YouTube channel, in which I show some more footage of our lovely trailing arbutus at Ridge Haven Homestead.

Until then, God bless!

You can see some of the flowers from prior years in these posts:

Early Spring Wildflower Walk

Also

Stop and Smell the Trailing Arbutus

An additional source of information on the Trailing Arbutus can be found here, in an article which was interesting and informative.