The Snowdrop ( Galanthus nivalis)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/gardening/images/plants/300x193_snowdrop.jpg

These lovely pure white,drooping flowers are one of my favourites. Snowdrops, or Galanthus to give them their correct name, are the classic winter flowering plant.When the snowdrops flower you can guarantee spring is not far behind!

The Snowdrop

Already now the snowdrop dares appear,

The first pale blossom of th'unripen'd year;

As Flora's breath,by some transforming power,

Had changed an icicle into a flower,

Its name and hue the scentless plant retains,

And winter lingers in its icy veins.

Anna Laetitia Barbauld (c.1766, 1835)

( 'Flora Poetica' The Chatto Book of Botanical Verse by Sarah Maguire)

Passion flower (Passiflora caerulea)

Photograph by SB.Please do not use for commercial purposes.

The blue passion flower, with its exotic-looking flowers, is a great climber for a sunny sheltered spot. The flowers may be followed by round, yellow fruit in hot summers.

"Oh, cut me reeds to blow upon,

Or gather me a star,

But leave the sultry passion-flowers

Growing where they are.

I fear their sombre yellow deeps,

Their whirling fringe of black,

And he who gives a passion-flower

Always asks it back."

Grace Hazard Conkling,1878-1958

The Legend of the Passion Flower

Legend has it that in 1620 a Jesuit Priest came across the plant we now know as passion flower. Enthralled with its beauty, that night he had a vision likening its floral parts to the elements of the Crucifixion or Passion of Christ. The five petals and five sepals became the ten apostles (omitting Peter and Judas). The three pistils became the nails of the cross; the purple corona (or filaments) was the crown of thorns, and the stemmed ovary was the Lord's goblet

Written by;http://www.passionflower.org/history.html