In the play
"Twelfth Night," Shakespeare gives the play's clown, Feste, a great
song known as "The Wind and Rain." The last line of each stanza
(except the final) goes "For the rain it raineth every day." Here's
the first stanza:
"When that I was but a tiny little boy,
With heigh-ho, the wind and the rain,
A foolish thing was but a toy,
For the rain it raineth every day."
No it doesn't, I think. It only seems that way. I remember, quite
clearly, when was it? -- two-three days ago? -- a whole day without a bit of
rain. I have the photos to prove it.
(Actually, I think Mr. Shakespeare was
intending a somewhat more philosophical meaning for "rain" in that
last line.)
In any
event, when I'm not bemoaning the weather I'm taking note of the blooming times
of various springtime splendors.
It's poppy
time. (Top photo.) They grow in front of the house and they're wide and bright
and showy, like creatures from another planet -- or climate, at least. The have
wobbly necks, I mean stems, and they're quite vulnerable to being battered down
in the wind, as happened today in our late May nor'easter. Poppies grow all
over the world, but I'm pretty sure these are not a variety much like those of
Afghanistan that supply the world with opium. We get northern European
varieties, I believe, such as Icelandic poppies. Apparently they don't mind the
winters here. We are getting more of them every year.
The obscure
perennial in the shade garden (second photo down). I've misplaced its name and
hope to recover it some day. The plant came back this spring after being trampled on
by the folks trimming the trees in this area last spring. I'm impressed by its
persistence.
The
columbine (third pic down) are blooming very late. I'm sure I found them in
early May some years. They're advertised as part-shade and a woodland plant,
and I've had mixed success with planting them in those situations. Some grow
for a few years and then give up. But they do have an English-garden sort of
delicate charm, a kind of dancing elfish look.
The big
white iris (fourth down). They popped open on a dark day a week ago when nothing
else was looking that happy, so I was particularly grateful for them.
We don't really have enough sun for most of the irises, so I'm happy when one
is doing well.
The plant below the iris is a larger variety of the campanula -- known as
bellflower from the shape of the flowers. There seem to be an unlimited number
of varieties, and I have found this defining sentence for campanula on line: "a diverse
genus with varying attributes, but most are noted for their flowers, which can
be tubular, bell, star, cup or saucer shaped." I put this plant in last
year. It's looks happy, and I'm cheered to see it back this year. If I
remember correctly, we saw dozens of these on the High Line park in New York
City last year.
I call
these little guys (in the sixth photo down) white star-flowers because I don't
know what they are. They spread themselves all over. I don't remember planting
them, but I've been known to forget a few planting gestures over the years.
The last
photo is the Korean lilac that grows in the back garden along the fence. It's a
very reliable bloomer. I've been giving it some lime in the spring. I don't
know if it makes a big difference, but it doesn't appear to be doing any harm.
It doesn't
do me any harm either to look at these photos and remember that days do come
when the rain that "raineth every day" is not so much on our minds.
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