Seeker

I really don't like cold weather and today is bitterly cold. Cold suits some people, but not others, certainly not me. Some flowering plants can be at their best in winter. One example of this is the humble snowdrop.   To see snowdrops gives me hope that spring is coming. In the words of the late Captain Sir Tom Moore , they inspire me in lockdown to keep putting one foot in front of another, to keep going, in the hope that “tomorrow will be a good day”. Snowdrops are also called ‘Candlemas Bells’ because they often flower at the feast of ‘Candlemas’ (2 February). If you don’t know what that feast is about take a look at the post Candlemas 2018 . In our garden the earliest green shoots of snowdrops appeared just after Christmas. They were at their best on 2 February, but are still flowering now. Towards the end of the dark cold winter, snowdrops are a sign of more new life to come when spring really gets going. For many months, they hide under the earth, beneath the dead leaves in...

Have you ever looked at the inside of a snowdrop flower? Here's a photo of one variety, seen from underneath. Every day this Lent I'm trying to notice at least one thing to be thankful for, especially if I haven't noticed it before. This is a good year for snowdrops, flowers I have seen in late winter every year since childhood, but never bothered to look inside. In our garden the earliest snowdrops first appeared just after Christmas and are now at their best. Towards the end of the dark cold winter, snowdrops are such a reassuring sign of the new life to come when spring really gets going. They have been busy during this wet cold winter, in secret and darkness under the earth. There is no sign of them then, under the dead leaves in the shady places. You would think they had died. Not so. The snowdrop bulbs have been sending down deep roots and growing new bulbs. As they start to flower in the snow they look so fragile, but must in fact be really tough. They survive t...