Free Vintage Nature Poem: In Daisy Days by Mary Elizabeth Blake

The Flower Girl, 1897
byJules-Cyrille Cavé (1859 - 1949)
Below is a poem called "In Daisy Days," written by Mary Elizabeth Blake. Mrs. Blake's admirers included Theodore Roosevelt and Oliver Wendell Holmes, the latter of whom wrote of her: "You are one of the birds that must sing." "In Daisy Days" was published June 1902 and goes like this:

Suns that sparkle and birds that sing,
Brooks in the meadow rippling over,
Butterflies rising on golden wing
Through the blue air and deep-red clover,
Flower-bells full of sweet anthems rung
Out on the wind in lone woodland ways --
Oh, but the world is fair and young
In daisy days!

Lusty trumpets of burly bees
Full and clear on the sweet air blowing;
Gnarled boughs of the orchard trees
Hidden from sight by young leaves growing.
Scars of the winter hide their pain
Under the grasses' tangled maze,
And youth of the world springs fresh again
In daisy days.

Down in the valley and up the slope
Starry blooms in the wind are bending;
Glad eyes shine like the light of hope,
Comfort and cheer to the dark earth lending.
Buoyant with life they spring and soar
Like the lark that carols his matin lays,
Climbing to gates of heaven once more
In daisy days.

Public domain poem is from my personal collection. All digitized poems by FieldandGarden.com are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Please credit and link back to FieldandGarden.com as your source if you use or share this work.

Free Vintage Garden Clipart for Cardmaking, Collage or Junk Journaling: Three Sisters with Plant, Rake, and a Watering Can

With rake and seeds and sower,
And hoe and line and reel,
When the meadows shrill with “peeping”
And the old world wakes from sleeping,
Who wouldn't be a grower
That has any heart to feel?
― Frederick Frye Rockwell, “Invitation,” Around the Year in the Garden
Vintage illustration showing three sisters in the garden. The oldest is carrying a watering can, the middle one is holding a rake, and the youngest sister is cradling a small, potted plant in the crook of her arm. You can download this free high-res 12" x 12" @ 300 ppi JPEG without a watermark for card making, mixed media collage or junk journal projects here.


From my personal collection of ephemera. All digital scans by FieldandGarden.com are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Please credit and link back to FieldandGarden.com as your source if sharing or publishing.

Free Vintage Nature Poem: In Garden-land by Augusta Hancock

A Victorian poem in celebration of nature, written by Augusta Hancock in 1893. Here is the poem in full:

IN GARDEN-LAND
In the garden-land of Nature
The smiling daisies blow,
With hearts kissed gold by sunshine,
And lips like winter snow;
The little winds play o'er them,
And dewdrops from above
Rest on them with the nightfall,
Like sparkling crowns of love.

On the misty slopes of sky-land
When sunlight ebbs away,
The daisy-stars of Heaven
Unfold as fades the day;
On sapphire banks they open,
Each set in radiant light --
The flowerets of the angels
That watch the livelong night.

In the world of busy workers,
'Mid turmoil and 'mid strife,
Are seen sweet girlish faces,
Like flowers that brighten life,
Their songs ring through our sadness,
Their laughter fills the air --
God's daisies fresh and heaven-sent
To blossom everywhere.


Public domain poem is from my personal collection. All digitized poems by FieldandGarden.com are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Please credit and link back to FieldandGarden.com as your source if you use or share this work.

Free Vintage Flower Illustrations for Collage Art, Graphic Design, Papercrafts or Scrapbooking: Blue Lily from 1800

Blue thou art, intensely blue;
Flower, whence came thy dazzling hue?
– James Montgomery
A digitally restored and enhanced antique illustration of a blue lily (African agapanthus or Agapanthus umbellatus) from an 1800 botanical magazine. You can download the free high-resolution 6" x 9" @ 300 ppi JPEG here. Can be used in a mixed media collage project, as a greeting card or journal cover, or simply print and frame to enjoy as wall art.


From my personal collection of ephemera. All digital scans by FieldandGarden.com are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Please credit and link back to FieldandGarden.com as your source if you use or share this work.