Sunflowers For September

This month's muse is Mary Oliver's poem 'The Sunflowers' : 

"Come with me

into the field of sunflowers.
Their faces are burnished disks,
their dry spines
creak like ship masts,
their green leaves,
so heavy and many,
fill all day with the sticky
sugars of the sun.
Come with me
to visit the sunflowers,
they are shy
but want to be friends;
they have wonderful stories
of when they were young -
the important weather,
the wandering crows.
Don't be afraid
to ask them questions!
Their bright faces,
which follow the sun,
will listen, and all
those rows of seeds -
each one a new life!
hope for a deeper acquaintance;
each of them, though it stands
in a crowd of many,
like a separate universe,
is lonely, the long work
of turning their lives
into a celebration
is not easy. Come

and let us talk with those modest faces,
the simple garments of leaves,
the coarse roots in the earth
so uprightly burning."

Musing In May

May 

'Now children may 
Go out of doors,

Without their coats,

To candy stores.

The apple branches

And the pear

May float their blossoms through the air,

And Daddy may 

Get out his hoe

To plant tomatoes

In a row,

And afterwards,

May lazily

Look at some baseball

On TV.'

- John Updike 1932- 2009

The illustration is the from Cecily Mary Barker's 'A Flower Fairy Alphabet'.

Of course it could just as well be Mummy who is planting those tomatoes! 

A Poem For April

"I had not thought of violets of late,
The wild, shy kind that springs beneath your feet
In wistful April days."

~ Alice Dunbar - Nelson, 1875 - 1935

The illustration is 'The Dog Violet Fairy' by Cicely Mary Barker, 1895 - 1973

A Poem For March

"For winter's rains and ruins are over,

And all the season of snows and sins ;

The days dividing lover and lover,

The light that loses, the night that wins;

And time remembered is grief forgottem,

And frosts are slain and flowers begotten,

And in green underwood and cover

Blossom by blossom the spring begins."

~ Algernon Charles Swinburne, 1837 - 1909.

A Poem For February

'They dangle in thousands from the hazels, 
aligned by strict gravity, melodious notes 
swept along a fine staff of branches invisible 
against the dark confusion of February forest. 

Long winter-flowers, hovering, pale yellow 
with greenish tinge; their perfect profusion 
sings an orderly chord—you can hear the hum 
with your eyes.

We have survived the big storm, 
trees breaking beneath burdens of ice, 
broken roofs, camp dinners, candlelight, 
homes gone cold. We cancelled gatherings, 

postponed the overschedule, came back online
with stories--how we made it through. 
Here in the heart of winter, autumn 
has been carried way back in the runoff. 

Harbingers of spring are still folded-in, buried 
too deep to swell, awaiting any hint of warmth. 
But these catkins pronounce a golden fairy light
that chants to us through the veiled drift of mist:

                                            steady in the stillness, 
                                            glimmer in the dark.'

~ 'Catkins' by Don Freas.

Illustration by Cicely Mary Barker.

A Poem For January

"Joy to You
I have bought some snowdrops ; only just a few,
But quite enough to prove the world awake,
Cheerful and hopeful in the frosty dew
And for the pale sun's sake' 

~ Christina Rosetti, 1830 -1894

As a new year unfolds I wish joy to anybody who visits here. May 2013 treat you and your patch of earth whether garden or allotment kindly. A huge big thanks to everyone who has called in during 2012 - your comments and support have been much appreciated and have often bought smiles to my face. Blogging would not be the same without you.

The above collage is composed of photos taken in the garden or on our travels during 2012. It was difficult to put one together, as having suffered major computer woes earlier this year most of my photos are floating about in limbo. I know where there are but accessing them in chronological order and then sorting them out, is going to be a major challenge for me to sort out this year. April and May when I usually take a lot of photos are especially elusive.

From left to right starting in the top left hand corner ~
January - snowdrops in my garden, February - snowdrops and irises at Abbeywood Gardens, March - in the greenhouse.
April - spring arrives, May - brunnera , June - on the street planting in Le Bec Helloin, Normandy.
July - my favourite geranium, August - wildlife in the garden, September - a window box in Arles.
October - cotoneaster foliage, November - smiling violas, December - sunshine on a rainy day.

Please click on the mosaic if you would like to see a larger version.

A Poem For December

Around the house the flakes fly faster, 
And all the berries now are gone 
From holly and cotoneaster 
Around the house. The flakes fly!--faster 
Shutting indoors that crumb-outcaster 
We used to see upon the lawn 
Around the house. The flakes fly faster, 
And all the berries now are gone! 

'Birds at Winter Nightfall' - Thomas Hardy, 1840 -1928

 The illustration is by Cicely Mary Barker.

A Poem For November

"It's not that every leaf must finally fall . . .

it's just that we can never catch them all."

'Autumn Conumdrum'
~  Michael R. Burch, b.1958

Illustration - Ida Rentoul Outhwaite, 1888 - 1960

A Poem For October

Today is National Poetry Day. The theme for 2012 is stars ~

"Well it's a marvelous night for a Moondance, 

 With the stars up above in your eyes

 A fantabulous night to make romance

'Neath the cover of the October skies

And all the leaves on the trees are falling

To the sound of the breezes that blow

And I'm trying to please to the calling

Of your heart-strings that play soft and low

And all the night's magic seems to whisper and hush

And all the soft moonlight seems to shine in your blush"

~ 'Moondance',Van Morrison, 

A Poem For September

 Autumn

"Now the summer is grown old 
the light long summer 
                                  is grown old.

Leaves change
and the garden is gold
with marigolds and zinnias
tangled and bold
blazing blazing
orange and gold. 
                          The light long summer
                          is grown old."

~ Charlotte Zolotow, b.1915

The illustration is one of Cecily Mary Barker's 'Flower Fairies'.

A Poem For June

 

"Strawberries that in gardens grow

Are plump and juicy fine

But sweeter far as wise men know 

Spring from the woodland vine. 

No need for bowl or silver spoon, 
Sugar or spice or cream, 
Has the wild berry plucked in June 
Beside the trickling stream. 

One such to melt at the tongue's root, 
Confounding taste with scent, 
Beats a full peck of garden fruit: 
Which points my argument."

~ an extract from 'Wild Strawberries' by Robert Graves.

The illustration is one of Cecily Mary Barker's 'Flower Fairies'.


Mine are plumping up nicely at the allotment and should be ready for Wimbledon. 

A Muse For May

"Among the many buds proclaiming May,
Decking the field in holiday array,
Striving who shall surpass in braverie,
Mark the faire blooming of the Hawthorn tree,
Who, finely cloathed in a robe of white,
Fills full the wanton eye with May's delight.
Yet for the braverie that she is in
Doth neither handle card nor wheel to spin,
Nor changeth robes but twice; is never seen
In other colours but in white or green."


- my sources conflict as to the author of this poem so further research is needed. Edith Holden's 'The Country Diary of An Edwardian Lady' attributes to it to Geoffrey Chaucer, whilst online sources attribute it to William Browne.  Will return to update if and when I remember.

"Wearing White For Eastertide"

"Loveliest of trees, the cherry now
Is hung with bloom along the bough,
And stands about the woodland ride
Wearing white for Eastertide.


Now, of my three score years and ten,
Twenty will not come again,
And take from seventy springs a score,
It only leaves me fifty more.


And since to look at things in bloom,
Fifty springs are little room,
About the woodlands I will go,
To see the cherry hung with snow."

 ~ extract from 'A Shropshire Lad' ~ A.E. Houseman, 1859 -1936. The fairy is one of Cecily May Barker's 'Flower Fairies'.

Wishing peace and joy at Easter to anybody who kindly visits at this most special time of year.

A Poem For April

"A song of forget - me - nots I sing!

Forget - me - nots are my favourite flowers,

Love, because they are like your eyes.

Blue, as the wild, blue butterflies

They stare and dream through the singing hours,

Under the turquoise and silver skies,

Under the fickle eyes of spring"

~ an extract from 'Rainbows - Forget - me - nots' by Olive Custance, 1874 - 1944

The illustration is one of Cecily Mary Barker's 'Flower Fairies'. I was surprised to come across two versions of 'The Forget- Me- Not Fairy'. I thought that this one conveyed more of a feeling of the mirth which these little flowers bring with them.

A Muse For March

"Daffodils,
That come before the swallow dares, and take
The winds of March with beauty."
 - Shakespeare, 'The Winters Tale.'


The illustration is one of Cicely Mary Barker's exquisite flower fairies. 

A Poem For February

"Winter holds fast,
But a little warmth escapes like sand
Through the closed fingers.
The error is annual and certain,
Letting the pygmy flowers
Make their prompt appearance
Under creaking trees.
They stand with serious faces, green ruffled,
As prim as Tudor portraits.


In the west
The greys and gleam slide in the wind
And only the descended blackbird
Augments the intrepid yellow."

'Aconites' - Freda Downie, 1929 - 1993

That hand clutching the sand is clenched tight at the moment but the aconites will be spinning their gold sunshine again before long.

The illustration is one of Cicely Mary Barker's 'Flower Fairies'.

A Poem For A New Year

"You think I am dead"
The apple tree said
Because I have never a leaf to show-
Because I stoop,
And my branches droop,
And the dull gray mosses over me grow!

But I'm still alive in trunk and shoot;
The buds of next May
I fold away-
But I pity the withered grass at my root."

"You think I am dead,"
The quick grass said,
"Because I have parted with stem and blade!
But under the ground,
I am safe and sound
With the snow's thick blanket over me laid.

I'm all alive, and ready to shoot,
Should the spring of the year
Come dancing here-
But I pity the flower without branch or root."

"You think I am dead,"
A soft voice said,
"Because not a branch or root I own.
I never have died, but close I hide
In a plumy seed that the wind has sown.

Patient I wait through the long winter hours;
You will see me again-
I shall laugh at you then, Out of the eyes of a hundred flowers."


~   Edith M. Thomas, 1854 - 1925

Wishing anybody who passes by a Happy and healthy New Year and hundreds of flowers!

P.S. The photos were all taken by me last year ~ one for each month but alas they did not come out in chronological order or the size I wanted. Must do more collages more often!

Garden Blogger's Muse Day ~ December 2011

To celebrate the first day of the meteorological winter and our wedding anniversary ~ a poem by Jenny Joseph ~

'The unlooked - for season'

"Love, the sun lies warm across the wall.
The wide windows and the smell of the road 
Do not say Winter. Ladybirds are crawling 
Out on ledges. Midday full on the land
Slows down the progress of the afternoon
Promising evening, like a Summer Sunday.


But look where the sun is. Never high in the sky it crept round the horizon. Ask anyone,
Look at the trees and the calendar - all declare
It should be winter. Within two hours
The Winter night will come up with the fog.


Since you have come and gone in the dreaded season
And left so much sunlight, I cannot think
Of now as dead time, only gentle,
With nothing to be feared, if this is winter"


The rose is 'The Fairy', which like us is a little bit ragged around the edges, is still holding on to a few flowers today.

'A Day In Autumn'

"It will not always be like this,
The air windless, a few last
Leaves adding their decoration
To the trees’ shoulders, braiding the cuffs
Of the boughs with gold; a bird preening
In the lawn’s mirror. Having looked up
From the day’s chores, pause a minute.
Let the mind take its photograph
Of the bright scene, something to wear
Against the heart in the long cold."

~ R.S. Thomas , 1913 - 2000

Slightly late in the day but continuing in the tradition established by Carolyn from 'Sweet Home and Garden Chicago' here is my November muse. There is a feel in the air today that the "long cold" is not so off. Yet earlier in the week it was hard to believe that we had entered November. It was sunny and warm enough to put washing out to dry, whilst at the allotment I picked the last courgettes and a bowlful of most delicious autumn fruiting 'Polka' raspberries.

It is dry for Bonfire Night celebrations - I will not be putting my head out of the door as I am an absolute wimp when it comes to loud noises. Luckily though we can catch glimpses of the local public display. I hope that all the children enjoy thmeselves, that both folk and creatures stay safe and that the crew on duty at our local fire station just down the road are not busy tonight.

P.S. It is not yet completely dark here so the photo was taken last year. I was brave enough to stand in the porch for a few minutes.
P.P.S. The 'long cold' may well have arrived - woke up to the first frost of the year the morning after the fireworks.

Garden Bloggers Muse Day - September 2011

"Now thin mists temper the slow-ripening beams

Of the September sun: his golden gleams
On gaudy flowers shine, that prank the rows
Of high-grown hollyhocks, and all tall show
That Autumn flaunteth in his bushy bowers;
Where tomtits, hanging from the drooping heads
Of giant sunflowers, peck the nutty seeds;
An in the feathery aster bees on wing
Seize and set free the honied flowers,
Till thousand stars leap with their visiting:
While ever across the path mazily flit,
Unpiloted in the sun,
The dreamy butterflies
With dazzling colours powdered and soft glooms,
White, black and crimson stripes, and peacock eyes,
Or on change flowers sit,
With idle effort plundering one by one
The nectaries of deepest-throated blooms."

~ 'The Garden in September ' - Robert Bridges 

This post has been inspired by Carolyn Choi over at Sweet Home And Garden Chicago. Carolyn's blog is presently closed, as she has moved from Chicago to be nearer loved family members in Carolina. I hope that the move goes well for her and hope that we hear about her new garden in the future. In the meantime as I have derived so much pleasure from Garden Bloggers Muse Day I will be continuing with a monthly muse.