Sir, – Reading the recent correspondence on snowdrops and bumblebees, my eyes were drawn to a wonderful article by your then gardening correspondent Jane Powers (“Breaking the harsh spell of winter”, Magazine, February 6th, 2010) that I had cut out and pasted to my fridge.
In it, she reflects on the poetry that the little flower has inspired, including Wordsworth’s lines on the “venturous harbinger of Spring, and pensive monitor of fleeting years”.
She also cites an extract from Paula Meehan’s wonderful poem Snowdrops: “you’ll look up under their petticoats/into a hoard of gold/like secret sunlight and their/three tiny striped green awnings that lend a/kind of frantic small-scale festive air”.
Let’s cherish our snowdrops! – Yours, etc,