Signs Of Life
First Snowdrops in Wapping
Even now, in the depths of Winter, there is plant life stirring. As I travelled around the East End over the past week in the wet and cold, I kept my eyes open for new life and was rewarded for my quest by the precious discoveries that you see here. Fulfilling my need for assurance that we are advancing in our passage through the year, each plant offers undeniable evidence that, although there may be months of Winter yet to come, I can look forward to the Spring that will arrive before too long.
Hellebores in Shoreditch
Catkins in Bethnal Green
Catkins in Weavers’ Fields
Quince flowers in Spitalfields
Cherry blossom in Museum Gardens
Netteswell House is the oldest dwelling in Bethnal Green
Aconites in King Edward VII Memorial Park in Limehouse
Cherry Blossom near Columbia Rd
Hellebores in Spitalfields
Spring greens at Spitalfields City Farm
The gherkin and the artichoke
Cherry blossom in Itchy Park
Soft fruit cuttings at Spitalfields City Farm
Seedlings at Spitalfields City Farm
Cherry blossom at Christ Church
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Please don’t tell us you’ve taken those cherry blossom photos this year?
It’s always good to see the first signs of life at this time of tree, I have been taking photos of the same here in Germany. Valerie
Love winter flowers, thank you.
Haha gherkin and artichoke 🙂
They’re not here yet , but wait until you see the amazing multicoloured carpet of crocuses in St. Anne’s in Limehouse.
I’m suprised at the Eranthis hyemalis (Aconites)
They normally need lots of cold to keep going, & won’t grow in warmer climates.
I assume those shown are well-established – I Have great difficulty getting them to establish permanently.
(In Walthamstow – where it will be cooler than Spitalfields)
But yes, it’s all happening.
Down on our allotments, the honey-bees are flying, when it’s not raining (!)
these are beautiful photo’s , thank you so much for so much happiness, you are giving .
The pure joy of catkins and signs of new growth – thank you for this post.
A lovely hopeful start to the day. Down here in Sussex the sun is shining which makes a change from days and days or rain and mud – and we do have snowdrops, hellebores and viburnum to cheer us up but London is always a week or two ahead – so thank you for the cheering sight of plants on the move.
Chapeau ! You see things with those special eyes — just as I do too…!
Love & Peace
ACHIM
As always the answer lies in the soil!
Best wishes,
Chris A.
Snowdrops, oh, how I love them! Always brings joy to my heart to see them and gives me the first sign that spring is coming – well for me anyway! Lovely pictures, thanks.
Absolutely NO signs of life here in Toronto……nor will there be for several weeks methinks.
Lovely photographs.
Even in Northumberland which is weeks behind you in London the snowdrops are out in my garden.Never had them this early,& the birds are singing!
As a visitor from the US Northwest where our climate is similar, I’ve visited London twice in mid and late January. It is a wonderful time of the year to see all those nascent plants and blossoms just emerging. Your photo of Christ Church is stunning.
Way down south — Clapham Old Town — the first open flowers on a discreet patch of wild violets were open on January 7, when the pavements were carpeted with needle from just-discarded Christmas trees. Secret London, always a little warmer.
Yes, Veronica, I have wild violets in flower in my Spitalfields garden too! They are very sweetly scented.
I love these signs and the photography, but I can’t help but wonder if the early signs of spring are a result of global warming?
Bradshaw’s Hand Book to London took me to St John’s Wood in early January and I found hellebores in full flower, Hammemelis x Intermedia, sarcocca confusa, winter jasmine, ornamental cherry trees, viburnum tinus, tree ferns, cyclamens, callicarpa dichotoma, heather, and berries on pyracantha, cotoneaster, and snowberries! I photographed and posted the evidence!
Thanks for the signs of life. Just one thing, those ‘cherry blossoms’ are all almond blossoms. Cherries don’t blossom for a couple of months yet, no matter how warm the weather!
….. lovely article and photographs, thank you – I was so happy to see snowdrops flowering last week that I actually said ‘Hello’ to them …… if Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?
I think the cherries ARE cherries – simply ‘winter flowering’ ones. And all the more beautiful for that!
Thanks to the Gentle Author for these uplifting pictures!
The Spring – Thomas Carew
Now that the winter’s gone, the earth hath lost
Her snow-white robes, and now no more the frost
Candies the grass, or casts an icy cream
Upon the silver lake or crystal stream;
But the warm sun thaws the benumbed earth,
And makes it tender; gives a sacred birth
To the dead swallow; wakes in hollow tree
The drowsy cuckoo, and the humble-bee.
Now do a choir of chirping minstrels bring
In triumph to the world the youthful Spring.
The valleys, hills, and woods in rich array
Welcome the coming of the long’d-for May.
Now all things smile, only my love doth lour;
Nor hath the scalding noonday sun the power
To melt that marble ice, which still doth hold
Her heart congeal’d, and makes her pity cold.
The ox, which lately did for shelter fly
Into the stall, doth now securely lie
In open fields; and love no more is made
By the fireside, but in the cooler shade
Amyntas now doth with his Chloris sleep
Under a sycamore, and all things keep
Time with the season; only she doth carry
June in her eyes, in her heart January.
Still two or more likely three months to go here in Stockholm… Thanks for the hope!
Are you sure the blossoms are cherry blossoms? I think they may be another flowering tree; cherry blossoms come later in the Spring.
Nevertheless, these photos are beautiful. The flowers are proof that the Earth is indeed up to something, and soon Spring will be upon us, inevitable and uncontained.
What delightful photos!! Just love the one with the artichoke. I must admit I’ve never seen catkins, hellebores…………….. Thanks!