Is this a bud?
(She asks tentatively, trying to veil her excitement).
Yes! My hellebore IS still alive! Every year I am amazed that anything has survived the dry cold frosts and freezing temperatures. And every year my brave little plants push their way up out of the crumbly frozen soil looking for light and warmth…
~~~
(This is, however, nothing compared to the 30,000-year-old flower revived in Russia! See article here.)
~~~
The heuchera in a pot near the front door has also stood up to the frost well.
Candlemas Bells (Snowdrops)
“The Snowdrop, in purest white array, First rears her head on Candlemas day.”
(Old English saying)
Well, they’re a bit late this year owing to the big freeze and all the snow we’ve had. But they are now making up for lost time… you can almost see them growing!
The following poem is as dramatic and meaningful to me as the sight of the first little white buds struggling impatiently towards the light.
Snowdrops
Do you know what I was, how I lived? You know
what despair is; then
winter should have meaning for you.
I did not expect to survive,
earth suppressing me. I didn’t expect
to waken again, to feel
in damp earth my body
able to respond again, remembering
after so long how to open again
in the cold light
of earliest spring–
afraid, yes, but among you again
crying yes risk joy
in the raw wind of the new world.
by Louise Gluck
JOY!
Spring is finally within sight!
We have survived the winter once again!
Words and Herbs 