#the crocuses

[adventuresofalgy]

Although Algy had discovered some early daffodils flowering well before their usual time, it was certainly not spring in the sense which many of his friends would understand, where winter truly and definitely ends, perhaps with a major thaw, and the world becomes consistently warm untill the autumn.

For in the temperate rainforest climate of the wild west Highlands of Scotland, it rarely if ever gets genuinely warm, in the same way that it is rarely seriously cold, and spring tends to be a very long drawn out and chilly season, which might appear to start early, if plants are an indicator, but which remains well below a comfortable temperature for several months, despite the rapidly lengthening days.

And of course the local conditions are usually exceptionally wet, as befits a rainforest climate. But at certain times of year it is not uncommon for the west Highlands to experience a week or two of dry, sunny weather, and in Algy's experience this quite often happens in February.

So he was not particularly surprised when the next morning brought more fine weather, but also a sparkling frost. Perching on the icy ground briefly, in order to inspect a patch of emerging crocuses which were growing in an area where the still-low sun could not often reach to warm them, Algy observed that "a tremor of the winter" did indeed still "shivering through them run", and he reflected on the extent to which the order of appearance of the spring bulbs was confused this year, for not only were many of the snowdrops still only starting to come into flower, but full sized daffodils were beginning to flower at the same time, before the crocuses had fully opened. It all seemed topsy-turvy to Algy, and although he was of course delighted to see the return of flowers to the garden, he could not help feeling that things were not quite as they should be…

They heard the South wind sighing A murmur of the rain; And they knew that Earth was longing To see them all again. While the snow-drops still were sleeping Beneath the silent sod; They felt their new life pulsing Within the dark, cold clod. Not a daffodil nor daisy Had dared to raise its head; Not a fairhaired dandelion Peeped timid from its bed; Though a tremor of the winter Did shivering through them run; Yet they lifted up their foreheads To greet the vernal sun.

[Algy is thinking of the first four verses of the poem The Crocuses by the 19th/early 20th century American poet and activist, Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, who was one of the first African American women to be published in the United States.]

[calamitys-child]

What's everyone's favourite flowers that aren't like. The normal ones. Like everyone's a fan of roses and sunflowers what's a more niche one. One you don't get in gift sets. Mine's sweet peas

[webdiggerxxx]

꧁★꧂

[koenji]

Children walking in a field of crocuses near the village of Xalane (İnanlı) in front of the snow covered Cîlo mountain range, April 2021. Northern Kurdistan. x

[geopsych]

Bright crocuses greeted me when I got home.

[escapismsworld]

Crocuses with Snowy Mountains Behind

1897

Stanisław Witkiewicz (Polish, 1851-1915),

[chasingrainbowsforever]

“Color of Spring | Purple Crocuses” By Tiger Seo

[nataliliv]

[huariqueje]

Motif of Hyacinth and Crocus  -   Jette Stoltz , n/d.

Swedish , 1923-2010

Oil on canvas ,  45 x 37.5 cm.

[awakeningthevioletswithin]

Catching Up With the Neighbors

Watercolor On Black Paper

2024, 10"x 14"

Yellow Crocuses and Blue Grape Hyacinths

[macroramblings]

I just love ladybugs and crocuses

[famousfishathletecookie]

Spring mood...

[gabygirl1243]

[atlanticghostcrab]

[adventuresofalgy]

The bright, cold, frosty weather, which in most years visited the wild west Highlands of Scotland for a short period in February, continued to render Algy's home environment a great deal less wild than usual. But it was also very chilly, and Algy found that despite the increased light, the crocuses in his assistants' garden were feeling reluctant to open their jewel-like flowers.

Resting briefly on the frosty grass, Algy tried to coax them a wee bit, but despite his flattery the lovely "stars of earth" remained firmly closed for the time being, complaining that it was altogether too cold for flowering just now:

Spake full well, in language quaint and olden, One who dwelleth by the castled Rhine, When he called the flowers, so blue and golden, Stars, that in earth's firmament do shine. Stars they are, wherein we read our history, As astrologers and seers of eld; Yet not wrapped about with awful mystery, Like the burning stars, which they beheld. Wondrous truths, and manifold as wondrous, God hath written in those stars above; But not less in the bright flowerets under us Stands the revelation of his love. Bright and glorious is that revelation, Written all over this great world of ours; Making evident our own creation, In these stars of earth, these golden flowers.

[Algy is reciting the first four verses of the long religious poem Flowers by the 19th century American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.]

[geopsych]

My daffodils aren’t quite far enough along to celebrate St David’s Day but I hope everyone has a good one! Dydd Gwyl Dewi Hapus! The winter aconite and crocuses were also growing under all that snow. Who knew?