For the first time I perceive this spring the the year is a circle.
I would make a chart of our life,
know why just this circle of creatures completes the world.
Henry Thoreau, April 18, 1852
The sweet fragrance
of swamp pinks
fills all the swamps.
June 23, 1852
Swamp Azalea, June 26, 2014 New York City
Is not this period more than any
distinguished for flowers –
when roses, swamp-pinks,
morning-glories, arethusas, pogonias,
orchises, blue flags, epilobiums,
mountain laurel, and white lilies
are all in blossom at once?
June 30, 1852
January 31. In the winter, when there are no flowers and leaves are rare , even large buds are interesting and somewhat exciting. I go a-budding like a partridge. I am always attracted at this season by the buds of the swamp-pink, the poplar, and the sweet- gale. January 31, 1854
February 13. Cafferty's Swamp . . . How often vegetation is either yellow or red! as the buds of the swamp-pink, the leaves of the pitcher-plant, etc., etc., and to-day I notice yellow-green recent shoots of high blueberry. February 13, 1858
February 17. In these swamps, then, you have three kinds of andromeda. The main swamp is crowded with high blueberry, panicled andromeda, prinos, swamp-pink, etc.. . . and then in the middle or deepest part will be an open space not yet quite given up to water, where the Andromeda calyculata and a few A. Polifolia reign almost alone. These are pleasing gardens. February 17, 1854
May 15. Swamp -pink leafing, say yesterday. May 15, 1854
May 17. I see the pincushion or crimson- tinged galls now on shrub oaks around the bases of the young shoots, some green-shell ones on oak leaves, like large peas, and small now greenish-white fungus-like ones on swamp- pink. Thus early, before the leaves are a quarter expanded, the gall begins. May 17, 1854
May 19. The common swamp-pink is earlier to leaf but later to blossom than the nudiflora. May 19, 1854
May 26. Swamp-pink leaf before lambkill. May 26, 1855
May 31. Azalea nudiflora, -purple azalea, pinxter-flower . . . It is a conspicuously beautiful flowering shrub, with the sweet fragrance of the common swamp-pink, but the flowers are larger and, in this case, a fine lively rosy pink . . . With a broader, somewhat downy pale-green leaf. May 31, 1853
June 10. A catbird’s nest of usual construction, one egg, two feet high on a swamp-pink; an old nest of same near by on same. June 10, 1855
June 14. The swamp-pink by to-morrow . . . Then there are the huckleberry-apples, and the large green puffs on the panicled andromeda, and also I see now the very light or whitish solid and juicy apples on the swamp-pink, with a fungus-like smell when broken. June 14, 1853
June 14. Catbird's nest with four eggs in a swamp-pink, three and a half feet up. June 14, 1859
June 15.. The swamp-pink apparently two or even three days in one place. June 15, 1854
June 18. I believe the 14th was the first day I began to wear my single thin sack in my walk and at night sleep with both windows open; say, when the swamp-pink opens. June 18, 1853
June 19. So we dashed down the west side of this toward Heather Meadow Brook where we found the swamp pink in blossom a most cool refreshing fragrance to travellers in hot weather. I should place this with if not before the mayflower. Its flowers just opened have caught but few insects . . . In these meadows. I forgot to say we saw the beautiful wild rose of a deep red color in blossom a rich sight islands of rose bushes with a profusion of flowers and buds. How suddenly they have expanded! They are first seen in abundance in meadows. Is not this the carnival of the year when the swamp rose and wild pink are in bloom the last stage before blueberries come? June 19, 1852
June 19. To Bateman’s Pond. The swamp-pink, apparently not long, and the maple leaved viburnum, a little longer, but quite early. June 19, 1858
June 20. Those great greenish-white puffs on the panicled andromeda are now decaying. On the swamp-pink they are solid. June 20, 1853
June 20. Swamp-pink out apparently two or three days at Clamshell Ditch. June 20, 1856
June 21. The swamp-pink bushes have many whitish spongy excrescences. June 21, 1852
June 23. The sweet fragrance of swamp pinks fills all the swamps. June 23, 1852
June 23. I every year, as to-day, observe the sweet, refreshing fragrance of the swamp-pink, when threading the woods and swamps in hot weather. It is positively cool. Now in its prime. June 23, 1853
June 24. The brown thrasher’s nest (vide 21st) has been robbed, probably by some other bird. It rested on a branch of a swamp-pink and some grape-vines, effectually concealed and protected by grape-vines and green briar in a matted bower above it . . . The swamp-pink still blooms and the morning-glory is quite fresh; it is a pure white, like a lady's morning gown. June 24, 1853
June 29. Swamp-pink I see for the first time this season. June 29, 1851
June 30. Is not this period more than any distinguished for flowers, when roses, swamp-pinks, morning-glories, arethusas, pogonias, orchises, blue flags, epilobiums, mountain laurel, and white lilies are all in blossom at once? June 30, 1852
July 17. Swamp-pink lingers still. Roses are not so numerous as they were. July 17, 1852
July 19. The swamp-pink still fills the air with its perfume in swamps and by the cause ways, though it is far gone. The wild rose still scatters its petals over the leaves of neighboring plants. July 19, 1851
July 30. The swamp pink shows its last white petals. July 30, 1852
August 19. I see white buds on swamp-pink, just formed, also green checkerberries about grown. August 19, 1856
August 31. The swamp-pink (Azalea viscosa), its now withered pistils standing out. August 31, 1850
October 7. Swamp - pink [leaves] a dark reddish purple where exposed. October 7, 1857
October 12. The swamp-pink buds begin to show. October 12, 1851
October 22. Swamp-pink and waxwork were bare October 23d; how long? October 22, 1859
October 30. Now, now is the time to look at the buds [of ] the swamp-pink, some yellowish, some, mixed with their oblong seed- vessels, red, etc. October 30, 1853
November 5. Swamp-pink buds now begin to show. November 5, 1855
November 8. The swamp-pink's large yellowish buds, too, are conspicuous now. November 8, 1857
November 15. Break my way into the midst of Holden Swamp to get a specimen of Kalmia glauca leaf. The surface is composed of great porous tussocks, or hummocks, of sphagnum, fifteen or twenty inches high or more, about the stems of blueberry bushes, choke-berry, water andromeda, swamp-pink, spruce etc., etc. November 25, 1857
November 16.. The swamp-pink and blueberry buds attract. November 16, 1852
November 23. Walked through Gowing's Swamp from west to east. You may say it is divided into three parts . . . Second: The coarse bushy part, or blueberry thicket, consists of high blueberry, panicled andromeda, Amelanchier Canadensis var. oblongifolia, swamp-pink, choke-berry, Viburnum nudum, rhodora, (and probably prinos, holly, etc., etc.) November 23, 1857
December 1. At this season I observe the form of the buds which are prepared for spring -
December 11. I thread the tangle of the spruce swamp, admiring . . . the great yellow buds of the swamp-pink, the round red buds of the high blueberry, and the fine sharp red ones of the panicled andromeda. December 11, 1855
December 16. 14? On those unfrequented islands, too, I noticed the red osier or willow, that common hard-berried plant with small red buds, apparently two kinds of swamp-pink buds, some yellow, some reddish, a brittle, rough yellowish bush with handsome pinkish shoots; in one place in the meadow the greatest quantity of wild rose hips of various forms that I ever saw, now slightly withered; they were as thick as winterberries. December 1, 1850
January 10. The great buds of the swamp-pink, on the central twig, clustered together, are more or less imbrowned and reddened. January 10, 1855
January 25. What a rich book might be made about buds, including, perhaps, sprouts! —
January 29. I go through the northerly part of Beck Stow's, north of the new road. For a great distance it is an exceedingly dense thicket of blueberry bushes. . . The small red and yellow buds, the maze of gray twigs, the green and red sphagnum, the conspicuous yellowish buds of the swamp-pink with the diverging valves of its seed-vessels, the dried choke-berries still common, these and the like are the attractions. January 29, 1858
Azalea nudiflora. See The Hunter's Azalea
June 10. A catbird’s nest of usual construction, one egg, two feet high on a swamp-pink; an old nest of same near by on same. June 10, 1855
June 14. The swamp-pink by to-morrow . . . Then there are the huckleberry-apples, and the large green puffs on the panicled andromeda, and also I see now the very light or whitish solid and juicy apples on the swamp-pink, with a fungus-like smell when broken. June 14, 1853
June 14. Catbird's nest with four eggs in a swamp-pink, three and a half feet up. June 14, 1859
June 15.. The swamp-pink apparently two or even three days in one place. June 15, 1854
June 18. I believe the 14th was the first day I began to wear my single thin sack in my walk and at night sleep with both windows open; say, when the swamp-pink opens. June 18, 1853
June 19. So we dashed down the west side of this toward Heather Meadow Brook where we found the swamp pink in blossom a most cool refreshing fragrance to travellers in hot weather. I should place this with if not before the mayflower. Its flowers just opened have caught but few insects . . . In these meadows. I forgot to say we saw the beautiful wild rose of a deep red color in blossom a rich sight islands of rose bushes with a profusion of flowers and buds. How suddenly they have expanded! They are first seen in abundance in meadows. Is not this the carnival of the year when the swamp rose and wild pink are in bloom the last stage before blueberries come? June 19, 1852
June 19. To Bateman’s Pond. The swamp-pink, apparently not long, and the maple leaved viburnum, a little longer, but quite early. June 19, 1858
June 20. Those great greenish-white puffs on the panicled andromeda are now decaying. On the swamp-pink they are solid. June 20, 1853
June 20. Swamp-pink out apparently two or three days at Clamshell Ditch. June 20, 1856
June 21. The swamp-pink bushes have many whitish spongy excrescences. June 21, 1852
June 23. The sweet fragrance of swamp pinks fills all the swamps. June 23, 1852
June 23. I every year, as to-day, observe the sweet, refreshing fragrance of the swamp-pink, when threading the woods and swamps in hot weather. It is positively cool. Now in its prime. June 23, 1853
June 24. The brown thrasher’s nest (vide 21st) has been robbed, probably by some other bird. It rested on a branch of a swamp-pink and some grape-vines, effectually concealed and protected by grape-vines and green briar in a matted bower above it . . . The swamp-pink still blooms and the morning-glory is quite fresh; it is a pure white, like a lady's morning gown. June 24, 1853
June 29. Swamp-pink I see for the first time this season. June 29, 1851
June 30. Is not this period more than any distinguished for flowers, when roses, swamp-pinks, morning-glories, arethusas, pogonias, orchises, blue flags, epilobiums, mountain laurel, and white lilies are all in blossom at once? June 30, 1852
July 17. Swamp-pink lingers still. Roses are not so numerous as they were. July 17, 1852
July 19. The swamp-pink still fills the air with its perfume in swamps and by the cause ways, though it is far gone. The wild rose still scatters its petals over the leaves of neighboring plants. July 19, 1851
July 30. The swamp pink shows its last white petals. July 30, 1852
August 19. I see white buds on swamp-pink, just formed, also green checkerberries about grown. August 19, 1856
August 31. The swamp-pink (Azalea viscosa), its now withered pistils standing out. August 31, 1850
October 7. Swamp - pink [leaves] a dark reddish purple where exposed. October 7, 1857
October 12. The swamp-pink buds begin to show. October 12, 1851
October 22. Swamp-pink and waxwork were bare October 23d; how long? October 22, 1859
October 30. Now, now is the time to look at the buds [of ] the swamp-pink, some yellowish, some, mixed with their oblong seed- vessels, red, etc. October 30, 1853
November 5. Swamp-pink buds now begin to show. November 5, 1855
November 8. The swamp-pink's large yellowish buds, too, are conspicuous now. November 8, 1857
November 15. Break my way into the midst of Holden Swamp to get a specimen of Kalmia glauca leaf. The surface is composed of great porous tussocks, or hummocks, of sphagnum, fifteen or twenty inches high or more, about the stems of blueberry bushes, choke-berry, water andromeda, swamp-pink, spruce etc., etc. November 25, 1857
November 16.. The swamp-pink and blueberry buds attract. November 16, 1852
November 23. Walked through Gowing's Swamp from west to east. You may say it is divided into three parts . . . Second: The coarse bushy part, or blueberry thicket, consists of high blueberry, panicled andromeda, Amelanchier Canadensis var. oblongifolia, swamp-pink, choke-berry, Viburnum nudum, rhodora, (and probably prinos, holly, etc., etc.) November 23, 1857
December 1. At this season I observe the form of the buds which are prepared for spring -
- the large bright yellowish and reddish buds of the swamp-pink,
- the already downy ones of the Populus tremuloides and the willows,
- the red ones of the blueberry,
- the long, sharp ones of the amelanchier,
- the spear-shaped ones of the viburnum;
- also the catkins of the alders and birches.
December 11. I thread the tangle of the spruce swamp, admiring . . . the great yellow buds of the swamp-pink, the round red buds of the high blueberry, and the fine sharp red ones of the panicled andromeda. December 11, 1855
December 16. 14? On those unfrequented islands, too, I noticed the red osier or willow, that common hard-berried plant with small red buds, apparently two kinds of swamp-pink buds, some yellow, some reddish, a brittle, rough yellowish bush with handsome pinkish shoots; in one place in the meadow the greatest quantity of wild rose hips of various forms that I ever saw, now slightly withered; they were as thick as winterberries. December 1, 1850
January 10. The great buds of the swamp-pink, on the central twig, clustered together, are more or less imbrowned and reddened. January 10, 1855
January 25. What a rich book might be made about buds, including, perhaps, sprouts! —
- the impregnable, vivacious willow catkins, but half asleep under the armor of their black scales, sleeping along the twigs;
- the birch and oak sprouts, and
- the rank and lusty dogwood sprouts;
- the round red buds of the blueberries;
- the small pointed red buds, close to the twig, of the panicled andromeda;
- the large yellowish buds of the swamp pink, etc.
January 29. I go through the northerly part of Beck Stow's, north of the new road. For a great distance it is an exceedingly dense thicket of blueberry bushes. . . The small red and yellow buds, the maze of gray twigs, the green and red sphagnum, the conspicuous yellowish buds of the swamp-pink with the diverging valves of its seed-vessels, the dried choke-berries still common, these and the like are the attractions. January 29, 1858
A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, Swamp-pink
A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau
"A book, each page written in its own season,
out-of-doors, in its own locality."
~edited, assembled and rewritten by zphx © 2009-2023
Rhododendron viscosum, the swamp azalea, clammy azalea or swamp honeysuckle, is a species of flowering plant in the heath family Ericaceae. This deciduous shrub, growing to 2.5 m tall and broad, is native to the eastern United States. It has rounded matt green leaves. In early summer it produces funnel-shaped white flowers flushed pink. The flowers have prominent stamens and are strongly fragrant. Wikipedia
Azalea nudiflora. See The Hunter's Azalea
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