Luzula pilosa

• English: Hairy Wood-rush
• Swedish: Vårfryle
• Finnish: Kevätpiippo

The English name sounds like some kind of a disease and the flower looks more like a grass than a ”fleur”, but there is beauty everywhere if you look close enough! That’s one of the things that really appeals to me in close-up photography; the sense of discovery, finding those little details you didn’t know existed.The hairy wood-rush grows just about everywhere early in the season, but I’m not sure if many people notice it at all. This particular specimen grows next to my neighbour’s garage and in a couple of weeks it will be completely hidden in between the lupines (that’s an OOF lupine leaf in the BG) and grasses. Then it will be time for new discoveries!

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I finally found some lilies-of-the-valley (Convallaria majalis) today. Or I found the leaves – it will be at least a week before they bloom. For some reason I have never had any good photo ops of the lily, so I’m really looking forward to getting some keepers this time. I have to get there early though; they grow at a very visible spot so there’s a big risk that people will come and pick them before I have a chance to photograph them. That’s just another thing I don’t get – picking flowers. A photo will be for keeps, but a flower in a vase today is a flower in the garbage tomorrow. Now how beautiful is that?

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Image specs: ISO 200, f5.6, 1/125, Canon 300mm f4L w/ 31mm extension tube