Spring is very slowly entering this month.
I see in many places the first signs of blooming crocuses, the early yellow buds of forsythia ready to burst into bloom.
It is also said that when snowdrops appear on the often frozen or snowed ground, it means that spring is just around the corner.
My trip to Hanley Park in Stoke on Trent resulted in these insights.
Walking along the paths in many places in the park, I saw carpets of white and delicate snowdrops, which looked like a small bells touched by the wind.
Those flowers starting flowering in January onwards and until March. The flowering depends on the locality and the weather. But they don`t flowering long time, and this is only up to 10 days.
Snowdrops are perennials and bulbs flowers. They have characteristic flowers, hanging on small stems with six leaves - three longer outer leaves and three shorter inner ones with a green spot.
In many European countries, snowdrops are fully or partially protected, or are classified as "critically endangered species", valuable or threatened. They must not be broken or destroyed.
I usually see them in lawn or wild woodlands. They also like places under trees and shrubs that shed their leaves in the winter. They form humus around snowdrops, which is why they are often overgrown with these flowers.
An interesting fact is that snowdrops bulbs are poisonous due to containing a harmful alkaloids.
I often read that snowdrops are very useful for early bees awakening from hibernation. However, I have never seen bees pollinating these flowers in January and February. Some sources say that snowdrops are also pollinated by moths that feed on their nectar. The other sources say that mice, rats, squirrels and some species of birds like to eat these flowers. Have you ever seen snowdrops pollinated by bees or eaten by animals? You can share it with me in the comments.
Snowdrops are also threatened by climate change. They are very fragile and sensitive to drought, so they are at risk of disappearing in their natural habitat, which by nature should be moist, and therefore primarily in woodlands.
I think the people of Stoke on Trent are very lucky to be able to admire the carpeted snowdrops at Hanley Park.
Have you seen the first snowdrops? It is time to look around.
At the end, I found a great quote about snowdrops saying that although it's not spring yet, it's waiting around the corner and the sign of it are snowdrops.
,, I wonder if the sap is stirring yet,
If wintry are dreaming of a mate,
If frozen snowdrops feel as yet the sun
And crocus fires are kindling one by one:
Sing robin, sing:
I still am sore in doubt concerning
Spring''
by Christina Rossetti (2013) ,,Delphi Complete Works of Christina Rossetti (Illustrated), p.122, Delphi Classic.
Wherever you are, get out and catch the best flowers show of those beautiful snowdrops.