Feest Isolation Days – 30 October
Pansies! Tulips! Hyacinths! Crocus! The bulbs are going down. The summer pots have been emptied and room has been made for the spring. It takes some organising planting up our garden and my Head Gardener knows what he is doing. He keeps a spread sheet from year to year which he adjusts with the bulb order, and makes sure they arrive in good time for planting.
Each year, we have a conversation about whether or not it’s time to remove all the pots which means summer colour is gone. This year, it was easy as there were only a few pots that could remain and supply us with much needed blooms for another few weeks. They are visible from the kitchen window and are a most welcome sight as the last of the outdoor colour disappears. The pots filled with nothing but soil look sad but I know that there are now tulip or other bulbs sleeping away.
And suddenly, as if by magic! (Or the Head Gardeners hard work) some of the empty pots have flowers in them again. The pansies have appeared! They are a wonderful plant and this year were delivered by a dear friend as no one on line was selling pansies to ship. Her visit to the Chepstow garden centre enabled our walk towards winter to begun.
According to the Horticultural Trades Association the words “pansy” and “viola” are often used interchangeably. However, there is a difference between these two. Pansies have four petals pointing upwards, and only one pointing down, while violas have three petals pointing up and two pointing down. After all these years I finally can tell the difference…count!
The name “pansy” is derived from the French pensée, or “thought”. “Heart’s-ease” or “love in idleness” are also names given to the wild form of the plant. The wild plant was considered a plant of humility – hence the expression the humble violet.
We have Lady Mary Elizabeth Bennet (1785–1861), of Walton–upon–Thames and her gardener to thank for collecting and cultivating heartsease, the genesis for the modern pansy. The pair were the first to introduce these cross bred plants to the horticultural world in 1812. Several other gardeners were working away after Lady Mary and by 1833 there were 400 named pansies available to people who once thought of heartsease, as a weed.
D.H. Lawrence (who wrote over 800 poems) published a collection of poetry called Pansies. Here are a few of his short poems.
BELIEF
Forever nameless
Forever unknown
Forever unconnected
Forever unrepresented
yet forever felt in the soul.
THE WHITE HORSE
The youth walks up to the white horse, to put its halter on
and the horse looks at him in silence.
They are so silent, they are in another world.
THERE ARE TOO MANY PEOPLE
There are too many people on earth
insipid, unsalted. rabbity, endlessly hopping.
They nibble the face of the earth to a desert.
SELF PITY
I never saw a wild thing
sorry for itself.
A small bird will drop frozen dead from a bough
without ever having felt sorry for itself.
TELL ME A WORD
Tell me a word
That you’ve often heard
Yet it makes you squint
If you see it in print!
NOTHING TO SAVE
There is nothing to save, now all is lost,
but a tiny core of stillness in the heart
like the eye of a violet.
Have a fantastic weekend!
With love,
Kathy x