GBMD - The Lent Lily


'Tis spring; come out to ramble
The hilly brakes around,
For under thorn and bramble
About the hollow ground
The primroses are found.

And there's the windflower chilly
With all the winds at play,
And there's the Lenten lily
That has not long to stay
And dies on Easter day.

And since till girls go maying
You find the primrose still,
And find the windflower playing
With every wind at will,
But not the daffodil,

Bring baskets now, and sally
Upon the spring's array,
And bear from hill and valley
The daffodil away
That dies on Easter day.

A.E. Housman - A Shropshire Lad (1896). NB Housman was born 150 years ago this month.

The daffodils are much later this year: these Tete a Tete popped open only a couple of days ago in my front garden and the ones in the back are all steadfastly in bud, even Jetfire which is usually the first to bloom. Last year, they first opened on February 7th, so all that frost and snow over the past few months has knocked back their first flowering by 19 days. I also wrote about daffodils this time last year and yesterday's post tells you where you can go to see them in the wild this month, including the place in the Lake District which inspired Wordsworth to write his most famous poem: Daffodils.

Garden Bloggers' Muse Day is hosted by Carolyn Gail at Sweet Home and Garden Chicago.

Comments

  1. Anna1 March 2009 at 10:22

    A lovely choice for GBMD VP. They are late this year but I think that sadly they will be done and dusted by Easter. My Tete a Tete opened only a day or two before yours and they are the first to come out.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Victoria Summerley1 March 2009 at 11:51

    Mine are way behind, but they are mainly 'Geranium' and 'Barrett Browning', which tend to flower later anyway. Yours look lovely, though

    ReplyDelete
  3. CanadianGardenJoy1 March 2009 at 13:03

    Do you know how lucky you are to see them now ? even if late girl ????
    I have another month to go before I might see mine .. so remember .. you are fortunate indeed for the beginning of March and seeing these beauties !!!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  4. petoskystone1 March 2009 at 13:36

    it's trying to sleet snow this morning. what a blessing to see this special cheerfull yellow! thank you.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Rose1 March 2009 at 14:39

    A lovely choice of poems for today, VP. I'm with Joy--our daffodils won't bloom for another month. Right now I'm just excited to see a few green shoots barely emerging from the ground:)

    ReplyDelete
  6. Anonymous1 March 2009 at 17:16

    One little group of Tete a Tete were opening on Monday, but they are very sheltered. Some others were flowering too but they had been under the staging in the greenhouse, unplanted, and neglected but have now been potted up and put in their rightful pride of place by the back door. All the others, later flowering ones, have come on amazingly over the last week. The orchard ones are full of buds and will be wonderful in a few weeks. I really don't know how they survive. They are trampled on by geese and spend the virtually the whole winter sitting in water - not the recommended treatment for bulbs! Yet every year they come up smiling and better than ever.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Mr. McGregor's Daughter1 March 2009 at 17:20

    I love 'Tete a Tete.' Sadly, I somehow lost all of mine save one. I think I'm the only person on the planet who can kill a Daffodil. My only Daffodils to have started sprouting are 'Ice Follies,' and they are mere nubs. It'll be a month before Daffodil season kicks in around here.

    ReplyDelete
  8. "Daffodil Planter" Charlotte Germane1 March 2009 at 18:52

    Thank you for this poem, which is new to me. Lovely to see your Tete a Tete--we have a couple of weeks to go before daffodil season takes hold here in the Sierra Nevada foothills.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Monica the Garden Faerie1 March 2009 at 22:06

    Some day I shall have to get organized enough to participate in some of the one-day memes. I seem to do better with ones with longer "deadlines!"

    ReplyDelete
  10. sharp green pencil1 March 2009 at 23:41

    How very lovely to see Housman and daffodils together. I was so excited to see some pretty little narcissus here in Orlando but they are not quite the same..

    ReplyDelete
  11. Jan3 March 2009 at 00:36

    I haven't read this poem before so glad you shared for GBMD. We just got a pile of snow dumped on us yesterday so what daffodils have come up aren't showing at the moment...but it'll be melted in a couple of days and flower watching will resume! Which is what my GBMD post is about, actually:)

    ReplyDelete
  12. VP4 March 2009 at 13:50

    Anna - thanks. I'm hoping they'll hang on for slightly longer than Easter, though I do have some later flowering ones which shoud help!

    Victoria - thank you!

    Joy - I thought you might feel that way, though I seem to recall that once spring gets going in Canuck country, you soon overtake us because of your longer day length :)

    Petoskystone - it's been trying to snow here today. We have it forecast for tonight. However, the sun's definitely getting stronger :)

    Rose - treasure those shoots and they'll soon be blooming for you.

    Maggi - so treat them mean, keep them keen eh?

    MMD - I have Ice Follies too - one of my fave larger daffodils and like you, just mere nubs at the moment

    Daffodil Planter - so in a couple of weeks you'll be showing us how you live up to your blog name ;)

    Monica - remember this is really a long meme too. Here's your notice for the start of next month's!

    Sharp green pencil - I hope I didn't make you feel too homesick

    Jan - sounds like what happened to you is like what happened to us here in the UK in February!

    Happy Muse Day everyone!

    ReplyDelete
  13. Elizabeth Musgrave7 March 2009 at 21:57

    I think we are about two to three weeks of seeing the tete a tete yet -higher, further north and colder than you I think!

    ReplyDelete
  14. VP24 March 2009 at 21:40

    Elizabethm - I bet you're seeing plenty of them now after last week's warm weather :)

    ReplyDelete

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