Ημερολόγιο της/του melindacreech

Dorothy’s Flora for December

moss [Phylum Bryophyta] — On 8 December 1801, walking on a gray cloudy night with a crescent moon and a few stars, Dorothy had “intended gathering mosses & for that purposed we turned into the green Lane behind the Tailors but it was too dark to see the mosses.”

moss [Phylum Bryophyta] — On 10 December 1801, Dorothy returned for the mosses: “A very fine sunny morning – not frosty we walked into Easedale to gather mosses.”

yew tree [Taxus baccata] — Dorothy sat up late on 12 December 1801, playing at Cards, and observed: “The moon shone upon the waters below Silver-how & above it hung, combining with Silver how on one side, a Bowl-shaped moon the curve downwards — the white fields, glittering Roof of Thomas Ashburner’s house, the dark yew tree, the white fields – gay & beautiful. Wm lay with his curtains open that he sight see it.”

ashes [Fraxinus excelsior] — Also earlier on 12 December 1801, walking home from Rydal, Dorothy noticed how the trees looked: “the ashes glittering spears with their upright stems.”

birches [Betula pendula] — On 12 December 1801 on her walk home from Rydal, Dorothy thought “The Birches on the Crags beautiful, Red brown & glittering.”

hips [Rosa arvensis] — Walking home from Rydale on 12 December 1802, Dorothy says: “the hips very beautiful, & so good!! & dear Coleridge — I ate twenty for thee when I was by myself.”

moss [Phylum Bryophyta] — On 18 December 1801, Dorothy make notes of the Christmas colors: “hips bright red — mosses green.”

birches [Betula pendula] — The next week on 18 December 1801 on her walk home from Rydal, Dorothy notes that “It was a cheerful glorious day. The Birches & all trees beautiful.”

hips [Rosa arvensis] — The next week, on 18 December 1802, Dorothy, walking around the lake, still notices: “hips bright red.”

brooms [Cytisus scoparius] — On 20 December 1801, Dorothy went to tea at the Ashburner’s noticing that even in the deep snow “The Brooms were very Beautiful – arched feathers with wiry stalks pointed to the End, smaller & smaller. They waved gently with the weight of the snow.”

strawberry blossoms [Fragaria vesca] — On her Rydal walk on Christmas eve, Dorothy also saw “in the turf a large bunch of strawberry blossoms.”

small yellow flowers [Euphorbia peplus?] — On Christmas eve 1802 Dorothy walked to Rydal and noticed quite a few flowers including “small yellow flowers (I do not know their name) in the turf.”

buttercups [Ranunculus bulbosus] — On 24 December 1802, on a walk around the lake, Dorothy saw “a buttercup in the water,” noting that “(but this I saw two or three days before.)”

daisies [Bellis perennis] — On a walk around the lake on 24 December 1802, Dorothy noted: “There were flowers of various kinds the topmost bell of a foxglove, geraniums, daisies.”

foxgloves [Digitalis purpurea] —On a walk around the lake on 24 December 1802, Dorothy noted: “There were flowers of various kinds the topmost bell of a foxglove, geraniums, daisies.”

geraniums [Geranium Sanguineum] —On a walk around the lake on 24 December 1802, Dorothy noted: “There were flowers of various kinds the topmost bell of a foxglove, geraniums, daisies.”

moss [Phylum Bryophyta] — On 29 December 1801, Dorothy is reminded of Coleridge, walking by “the bonny nooks & windings & curlings of the Beck down at the bottom of the steep green mossy banks.

Scotch fir [Pinus sylvestria] — Dorothy describes a “Pretty cluster of houses at the foot of St John’s Vale” near the second mile stone on 29 December 1801 noticing “The houses were among tall trees, partly of Scotch fir, and some naked forest trees.”

primroses [Primula vulgaris] — On a trip to Keswick on 30 December 1802, Dorothy says: “We stopped our horse close to the ledge opposite a tuft of primroses three flowers in full blossom & a Bud, they reared themselves up among the green moss. We debated long whether we should pluck & at least left them to live out their day, which I was right glad of at my return the Sunday following for there they remained uninjured either by cold or wet.”

Dorothy only mentions a few flora for the month of January. Perhaps it was too cold to spend much time outside. On 3 January 1802, on a trip to visit Mary, she describes the trees and hedges that surround the fields and the beauty of the hoar frost that covered the grass, trees, and hedges. She also mentions cutting the shrubs on 27 January 1802. She does make a couple of observations about a strawberry blossom and a fallen larch tree.

Larch [Larix decidua]— On 26 January 1802 Dorothy visited John’s Grove where “where the storm of Thursday has made sad ravages, two of the finest trees are uprooted one lying with the turf about its root as if the whole together had been pared by a knife. The other is a larch. Several others are blown aside, one is snapped in two.

Strawberry blossoms [Fragaria vesca]— On 31 January 1802 Dorothy recounts a tender story about a strawberry blossom: “I found a strawberry blossom in a rock. The little slender flower had more courage than the green leaves, for they were but half expanded and half grown, but the blossom was spread full out. I uprooted it rashly, and I felt as if I had been committing an out- rage, so I planted it again. It will have but a stormy life of it, but let it live if it can.”