Jewels Of Winter
by Tami Quigley
Title
Jewels Of Winter
Artist
Tami Quigley
Medium
Photograph - Photography ~ Digitally Enhanced
Description
“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.
A cluster of snowdrop flowers emerges among the foliage, captured in an infrared photograph that accentuates their delicate shapes. The flowers and leaves shine with a silvery glow, contrasting with the darker, blurred background.
Uploaded
March 12th, 2024
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