MinxterBLOOM

Elizabethan blackwear -- embroidery on light-colored fabric -- is lovely in a spiderweb way.  Look at this sample pattern for a cowslip border. This pattern comes from the Blackworkarchives, a site devoted to Renaissance stitchery.

I love cowslips, a progenitor of primroses.  Last year, at great trouble and cost from an Ebay plant provider, I bought a wan little cowslip.  I do hope that this pale yellow darling emerges this spring.  On Dartmouth street in my town is a plot that used to feature cowslips.  The gardener's grandmother kept them going each spring. Absent the last two years from this corner plot, the cowslips may have faded. Therefore, I so hope that my efforts yield a little something.  

Where the bee sucks, there suck I
In a cowlip's bell I lie
       - THE TEMPEST

 

Coda on Cowslips: Primula veris, but the common name is from "cowpat," from where cowslips would spring up when they were common in the wild. Some say this means cow pie but others think cow pasture. These meadow flowers are also known as Fairy Cups and Mayflowers.  The yellow gives rise to the hue primrose.The fragrance is gentle and understated.