Welcome to this weeks ‘In A Vase On Monday’, when I am linking up with Cathy at Rambling In The Garden to join her challenge to produce a vase for the house from the garden every week.
Yesterday I promised you yet more romance and here it is in the form of the snowdrop. For me snowdrops are the true romantic flower of winter. They display a purity of colour, they can survive against all odds and they inspire a raging passion amongst their lovers the Galanthophile’s. They also have an irresistible delicate honey fragrance when massed under trees on a rare mild afternoon in winter. Passion, purity and fragrance – what could be more romantic!
Whist reading my new Freda Cox book, A Gardeners Guide To Snowdrops, I have learnt some surprising new facts about this beautiful little flower. I had no idea that snowdrops were tainted with superstition, in particular that the Victorians associated them with death saying that they grew closer to the dead than the living and that their flowers resembled shrouds. Snowdrops are also associated with Candlemas Day, which is the Feast of the Purification of the Virgin Mary on 2nd February. Young girls would make snowdrop garlands and carry bunches of snowdrops as symbols of their purity as they processed to church. Victorian girls would also send a few snowdrops to their suitors as a warning if the gentleman became too amorous – I love the way the Victorians used the language of flowers to send coded messages.
Ignoring any superstitions about bringing snowdrops indoors, I have placed the snowdrops that I dug up from the garden into an old silver-plated rose bowl (a recent find of mine at an antique centre in Ely). The bulbs have been covered with spag moss to keep them damp and the arrangement placed in a cool bedroom. I have learnt in previous years that this delicate flower wilts at the first hint of heat.
In such a romantic week as this I thought I would share some poetry with you and spent an hour this morning flicking through my poetry books for something suitable. I was delighted to find the heading ‘Ode to the Snowdrop’ – a poem by Mary Robinson:
The snow-drop, Winter’s timid child,
Awakes to life bedew’d with tears;
And flings around its fragrance mild,
And where no rival flowrets bloom,
Amidst the bare and chilling gloom,
A beauteous gem appears!
After a promising start, this snowdrop has a very unhappy life in the snow and wind and eventually dies and is replaced by its rival, the gaudy crocus! I will leave you to read the rest of this sad poem. Personally I prefer my poetry a little more uplifting and was relieved to find that William Wordsworth also had some words to share on snowdrops in ‘To a Snowdrop’:
Lone flower, hemmed in with snows, and white as they
But hardier far, once more I see thee bend
Thy forehead as if fearful to offend,
Like an unbidden guest. Though day by day
Storms, sallying from the mountain-tops, waylay
The rising sun, and on the plains descend;
Yet art thou welcome, welcome as a friend
Whose zeal outruns his promise! Blue-eyed May
Shall soon behold this border thickly set
With bright jonquils, their odours lavishing
On the soft west-wind and its frolic peers;
Nor will I then thy modest grace forget,
Chaste snowdrop, venturous harbinger of Spring,
And pensive monitor of fleeting years!
Snowdrops I am finding are very hard to photograph well. In the garden they are caught by every gust of wind and sit so low it is hard to get close enough to them without actually lying on the wet grass. Even indoors it is hard to get a good focus on their pretty bobbing heads. This little lot have been flowering for a few weeks now and are, I assume, the common Galanthus nivalis. I have a long way to go with Freda’s book though before I can make an attempt to spot the differences between the many varieties.
I am really enjoying the mix of the the grey tones in this bedroom with the silver rose bowl and beautiful snowdrops – a match made in heaven!
Finally I would like to share with you one of my favourite romantic reads – Miss Pettigrew Lives For A Day. This is a funny and enchanting fairy tale of a story about a drab spinster who unwittingly enters the glamorous world of 1930’s bright young things and ends up finding a romance of her own. I first read this book on a snow day a few years ago. School had been cancelled and we all returned to our cozy beds for a few hours with our books. I devoured this story in a sitting and have returned to it many times since when I need a little light relief. Sitting on top of the book is my own romantic tale – a crystal rose left on my pillow by my husband!
I hope you have enjoyed my whip through the world of the snowdrop. I will be back later this week with a return to reality – jobs to do this week and I have a special one reserved for Valentine’s Day itself! Do pop over to Cathy’s blog and have a look at what she has been getting up to today.
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The snowdrops look perfectly presented in the special silver bowl and add elegance to the room.
Thank you – I am really enjoying them in that room – especially as the weather is too grim to spend much time enjoying the snowdrops outside.
Wow Julie!!!!!! So rich with history, poetry, literature, art, and a little bit of intriguing romance about my beloved brother 🙂 LOVE this blog of yours!!! xx
Hi Karla – its so nice to see you here. I am glad you are enjoying it – there will be a test in the summer!
A lovely post. The snowdrops look lovely in that rose bowl, what a find! I have the Winifred Watson book and it is charming. I love The Persephone classics.
Great that you are joining in with Cathy’s meme.
Its so nice to find another Persephone fan – I just love their stories and the presentation of the books. I think I need a little shelf in the grey bedroom for my collection – they go very well in that room.
simple and elegant, I love that!
Thank you Annette.
It is so heart warming to have our creative taste buds tickled this way, isn’t it Julie? Your snowdrops in their silver bowl are perfectly in tune with the wallpaper in that room and with the crystal props and no doubt, as with me, one thing led to another which is an enjoyable journey in itself. I must look out the Miss Pettigrew book as it is not one I have come across – how lovely to have that memory of when you first read it. Who would have thought that this meme would unfurl the way it is doing? Thanks so much for taking on the challenge so wholeheartedly, Julie
I am having such a good time Cathy. I have always been a fan of the winter garden, but I have never brought so much into the house before or thought so much about what I could use through the winter. I am beginning to think that spring will be even more of a challenge as then we will have choices to make every week! Let me know if you enjoy Miss Pettigrew.