May All Your Weeds Be Wild Flowers

This week has worn me out!  I have been busy at work and busy at home.  I have not managed to find time to fit much craft in but I have one week at work and then another holiday for a week.  Yippee!  I will surely be able to get to work on some unfinished projects.  I took this photograph in a Worcestershire Wildlife Nature Reserve this week. I was lucky enough to take the group of children I teach for the morning to do some 'Science' work.  We surveyed the plants in the meadows, caught some bugs and observed them and used binoculars to observe pond wildlife.  I find it funnier to watch the children.  One insisted on wearing his hood up, zipped up, even though it was warm because he was worried about bugs.  He also skipped through the meadows like a Prima Ballerina, I think he was worried about his trainers!  These kids are mostly 'Townies' through and through.  They seemed to have fun and were busy with their investigations.  This is the only photograph I managed to get without children in it.  It is Ragged Robin and the meadows were covered in it.  My Grandmother told me when I was a child it was her favourite wild flower.  It is also known as crow flower, meadow spink, bachelor's buttons, thunder flower, Polly Baker, and Shaggy Jacks.  I have never seen so much of it.   In folklore girls carried ragged robin, naming each plant for a local boy. The flower that opened first would have the name of the boy the girl would marry.  In another tradition men would carry ragged robin in their pockets, whether the plant thrived or not indicated success in love.  It has no known herbal uses but can be associated with goblins and evil.  I didn't see any goblins, I will look more carefully when we return next week!
In the language of flowers ragged robin represents ardour, and also is a symbol for wit.