In search of snowdrops

My much anticipated visit to a local garden to see the snowdrops never materialised. Instead I was stuck at home in a cold house waiting for someone to come and fix our heating (again !).  So, another week went by before I could venture out in search of these little beauties and at my next port of call, there was none to found. I had pretty much given up in finding any, but when we reached the hotel we were staying in for a short break last weekend, there they were…waiting patiently, almost hidden from view in a small patch of woodland. And although it was soggy underfoot, over I went to have a closer look, to reassure myself that yes, they were really snowdrops and that yes, spring is slowly but surely on it’s way….

Such a humble little flower, really, but laden with such significance. I felt better for having seen them.

I came home to discover that the hellebores and primroses in our garden have also started to flourish…their petals of white and yellow making a welcome appearance in an otherwise, still seemingly dormant space.

It all reminded me of a poem I had read…

One month is past, another is begun
Since merry bells rang out the dying year
And buds of rarest green began to peer
As if impatient for a warmer sun;
And though the distant hills are bleak and dun,
The virgin snowdrop like a lambent fire,
Pierces the cold earth with it’s green-streaked spire
And in dark woods, the wandering little one
May find a primrose

(Hartley Coleridge, 1842)

Isn’t this verse lovely ?

Hope you have a good Wednesday.