“Came the spring with all its splendor,
All its birds and blossoms,
All its flowers and leaves and grasses.”
~ Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
~ 1807 ~ 1882
An artistic view of delightful cherry blossoms in the soft morning light of April, showcasing the spirit of spring at Trexler Memorial Park, Allentown, Pennsylvania.
“You are my sunshine, my only sunshine
You make me happy when skies are gray
You’ll never know dear, how much I love you
Please don’t take my sunshine away …”
~ “You Are My Sunshine”
~ 1940
~American standard of old-time & country music & one of the official state songs of Louisiana
~ Its original writer is disputed. According to the performance rights organization BMI, by the year 2000 the song had been recorded by over 350 artists & translated into 30 languages. Its best-known covers include a recording by Johnny Cash in 1989
The beauty of these sunflowers is as bright as the sun on a late May afternoon in Allentown, Pennsylvania.
Young sunflowers move to face the sun, a movement called heliotropism. Mature sunflowers generally stop moving and remain facing East, which lets them be warmed by the rising sun.
The sunflower (or “soniashnyk”) is Ukraine’s national flower and has been grown on its central and eastern steppes since the middle of the 18th century. And today, in light of Russia’s horrific invasion of Ukraine, the sunflower is a symbol of “I Stand With Ukraine!”
“Snowdrops: Theirs is a fragile but hearty celebration … in the very teeth of winter.”
~ Louise Beebe Wilder
~American gardening writer & designer
whose books are now considered classics of their era
~ 1878 ~ 1938
Crocuses and daffodils are beautiful and wonderful to see, but the very first sign of spring being just around the corner are snowdrops – making them the jewels of winter. I captured these snowdrops in this infrared image on a late February afternoon along the Saucon Rail Trail in Lower Saucon Township, Hellertown, Pennsylvania.
Snowdrops are hardy perennial, winter-flowering plants that are often heralded as the first sign of spring. They bloom as early as January or February whatever the weather ~ they will even push through frozen, snow-covered ground.
Snowdrops are also known as Candlemas Bells, as they were gathered at Candlemas February 2 to decorate churches before the Reformation. They were symbols of purity, which was connected to the rite of purification that Mary observed by going to the temple forty days after Christmas. The festival was formerly known in the Roman Catholic Church as the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary and is now known as the Presentation of the Lord. In the Anglican Church it is called the Presentation of Christ in the Temple. During Candlemas, all of the candles to be used in the church for the coming year are blessed, and the faithful are invited to bring their own candles so that they can be blessed and used in the home for prayer throughout the year.
Carl Linnaeus, a Swedish botanist, named the snowdrop the Galanthus nivalis, “milk flower of the snow,” in 1753.
