Pic(k) of the Week: Winter speedwell

Look down! Tiny blue winter speedwell blossoms have popped up, low down, in large numbers, seemingly overnight. So small, so unassuming, and, yes, some might say, so weedy.

Lanier Gardens Park: Avondale Estates, Georgia, USA. 24 February 2022.

I've so often walked by over ubiquitous winter speedwell, paying no heed, until one winter afternoon, when I felt the need to get down on the ground and look at them on their level.

My clothes became muddied; I probably received bemused glances from motorists passing close by this tiny strip of streetside greenspace. But there I lay, taken aback by these blossoms' miniature elegance: flowers for a fairy's garden.

Veronica persica —commonly known as birdeye speedwell, common field-speedwell, Persian speedwell, large field speedwell, bird's-eye, or winter speedwell— is a flowering plant in the plantain family (Plantaginaceae). It is native to Eurasia and is widespread as an introduced species elsewhere, including North America. The short-stalked leaves are broadly ovate with coarsely serrated margins, and measure one to two centimeters (0.4 to 0.8 inches) long. The flowers are roughly one centimeter (0.4 inches) wide and are sky-blue in color with dark stripes and white centers.

— Wikipedia.

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• This is a 'macro' closeup. These tiny flowers appear much larger in the image than they did in 'real' life.


• Pic(k) of the Week: one in a weekly series of images posted on Saturdays.
• Photo 11 of 52, for year 2024 (although I took the image in winter 2022)! See a hi-res version on Flickr: here.
• Commercial reproduction requires explicit permission, as per Creative Commons.


• Camera: Olympus OM-D E-M10 II.
• Lens: Olympus M.40-150mm F4.0-5.6 R
• Settings: 66 mm | 1/500 sec | ISO 200 | ƒ/4.6
  — Macro extension tube: 26 mm


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