2 January 2026

We walked along the Lade Braes on Hogmanay and saw the snowdrops. Many have penetrated the earth and the detritus of autumn leaves and a few have flowered not as early as in the manse garden at Traprain. They always appeared  on Christmas Eve.

In his poem about the snowdrop, Alfred Lord Tennyson welcomes the sight of the snowdrop with these words, ‘Many, many welcomes/ February fair-maid’. This must surely be an indicator of global warming if this was his usual first sighting. They used to be called Candlemas Bells. Candlemas is celebrated on 2 February!

I planted three dozen assorted hyacinth bulbs towards the end of October and put them under cover in the loft. I have inspected them a few times and watered them gently. They have all flourished in that chilled environment and are ready to come down.

Some people like to add them into the mix of Christmas decorations but I don’t. I much prefer to keep  their splendour and scent for the early days of January when the warmth of Christmas and its defiant light have dissipated and we can enjoy Miss Saigon dressed in purple, the bridal Aiolos and Jan Bos in dark pink!

Our winter has been so fair that some of our roses are still in bloom. The pink of Harlow Carr and its beautiful old rose fragrance is still flowering into January. There are a few roses on the wooden arch which made such a splendid backdrop for family photographs at Colin’s wedding.

Roses in December is surely another indicator of global warming. In the early nineteenth century, Lord Byron was writing about literary critics and suggested that trusting their judgement was as foolish as searching for roses in December:

And shall we own such judgement? no – as soon

Seek roses in December – ice in June;

Hope constancy in wind, or corn in chaff.

The record of our landscape and the science which shapes it are embedded in the greatest of our poets. Truth cannot be denied. The poetic record preserves it in the flowers of the field!