Marsh Marigold + Honey Bee

This native perennial blooms in mid-April, a bouquet of bright yellow blossoms sticking right out of a swiftly flowing stream in the woods or the still waters of a swamp. Marsh marigold thrives in the wetness of spring and the sunlight that reaches the ground in places that will soon be shaded by foliage. By summer, you’ll find no sign of it. Its leaves disappear by then, but its roots survive underground until the next year, even if the streams and swamps dry up.
A member of the buttercup family and not closely related to other marigolds, these marigolds were mentioned in Shakespeare’s work 400 years ago [“Marybuds”] and used in May celebrations. A German legend tells the story of the first marsh marigold. A maiden named Caltha (meaning “cup” in Greek) fell so in love with the sun god that she spent her days and nights in the fields, trying to see as much as possible of him until her body and spirit wasted away. The first marsh marigold – a cup filled with the sun’s rays – grew where the devoted maiden had stood.
Historically, the plant could be boiled and eaten, and Natives used marsh marigolds to relieve cough and some skin conditions.

Marsh Marigold is accompanied by honey bee, a VIP of the pollinator sector. From National Geographic: “Honeybees are important pollinators for flowers, fruits, and vegetables. They live on stored honey and pollen all winter and cluster into a ball to conserve warmth. All honeybees are social and cooperative insects. Members of the hive are divided into three types. Workers forage for food (pollen and nectar from flowers), build and protect the hive, clean, and circulate air by beating their wings. The queen’s job is simple—she lays the eggs that will spawn the hive’s next generation of bees. There is usually only a single queen in a hive. If the queen dies, workers will create a new queen by feeding one of the worker females a special food called “royal jelly.” This elixir enables the worker to develop into a fertile queen.”

Original mixed media on raw stretched canvas with maple float frame.