In his Eclogue (Composed at Cannes in December 9th, 1867), Edward Lear wrote of visions of happiness and travel that he experienced when he saw the orange and lemon trees and how the unexpected weather diminished the happiness experienced there: So, despite the depression of the weather, the writer of nonsense associated the lemon and …

The Trees by Philip Larkin (1922 – 1985) was published in his fourth and final volume of poetry, High Windows in 1974.  It meditates, laments but ultimately celebrates the life-cycle of trees.  Time lapse videos by Neil Bromhall demonstrate the anatomical wonder of opening tree leaf buds that will be occurring everywhere in the coming weeks. The Trees by Philip Larkin …

Once voted the UK’s 5th most popular poem of all time in a Radio 4 poll, Daffodils, also known as I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud, is Wordsworth’s best known poem and one of the Lake District Tourist Board’s favourite plants. It was first published in 1807 in Poems in Two Volumes, with a few …

Few activities in urban life combine mental reprieve with repetitive, outdoor labor.  Middle-class city folk have long turned to the pastoral tradition to imagine an idyllic countryside populated with fresh-faced shepherdesses and singing harvesters unburdened by anxieties of the city grind.  Their innocent work in the fields was seen as an antidote to stress.  Indeed, …

A small tree inspired old poem and a big tree inspired even older picture to celebrate Christmas week. Happy Christmas, by Danish painter Johansen Viggo, 1891 little tree by E.E. Cummings, 1959 little tree little silent Christmas tree you are so little you are more like a flower who found you in the green forest …

Winter Trees is the title poem of Plath’s 1971 posthumous collection of poetry published by her husband Ted Hughes. Winter Trees by Sylvia Plath The wet dawn inks are doing their blue dissolve. On their blotter of fog the trees Seem a botanical drawing– Memories growning, ring on ring, A series of weddings. Knowing neither …

There are so many leaves on London’s streets at the moment. Lots of different colours and shapes. Some of them are so large that you look up expecting to find some huge specimen from which it has fallen, but instead you find yourself under a not particularly tall London plane. Platanus × acerifolia is our …

Ode to Trees by Herman Hesse (1920) For me, trees have always been the most penetrating preachers. I revere them when they live in tribes and families, in forests and groves. And even more I revere them when they stand alone. They are like lonely persons. Not like hermits who have stolen away out of …

For anyone that missed it on the front page of the Guardian newspaper yesterday, the UK’s current poet laureate, Carol Ann Duffy turned to plants to mark the outcome of the Scottish independence referendum. Starting with the Gaelic translation of ‘I love you’, this wonderful poet produced a poem that aptly reflects the levels of emotion …

Plant Curator was slightly disappointed that the traditional flower bouquet given to winners at medal ceremonies was absent from this year’s Commonwealth Games in Glasgow: Wouldn’t a bunch that celebrated some of Scotland’s amazing native flora, such as a selection of thistle species, have been a nice touch? Still, we can’t complain as it was …