Garden Lore - April

[bogmyrtle]

1st April - All Fool's Day:

This is thought to commemorate the fruitless mission of the rook, who was sent out in search of land from Noah's flood encircled arc. It used to mean to send people on a fool's errand - gather hen's teeth, or striped paint or some non-existent thing.

First Sunday in April:

This was Daffodil Sunday, invented by the Victorians as a day for going out walking. Families would walk together and gather daffodils from their gardens to take to local hospitals to give them to the sick.

19th April - Primrose Day

Queen Victoria sent vast quantities of primroses to Prime Minister Disraeli for his birthday as they were his favourite flowers. After his death in April 1881, Primrose Day was inaugurated and in 1883 Lady Randolph Churchill founded The Primrose League to further the cause of Conservatism.

23rd April - St. George's Day

Young men would go and gather from the woods green boughs to dress up one of their number as 'Jack-in-the-Green', the spirit og Spring. He would feature in their Morris Dances and May Day celebrations.

25th April - St. Mark's Day

Saint Mark is supposedly the patron saint of mildew! If all other remedies have failed, he is your man ;D

Daisy - 'Spring has come when you can put your foot on three daisies' It is an emblem of fidelity and innocence and thought by the Celts to be the spirits of children who died at birth. In Scotland it is called the bairnwort - because of the pleasure children have had generation after generation of making daisy chains.

Solomon's Seal so called because of the markings on its stem, which when cut through, are said to resemble the seal of King Solomon. It was used by Tudor herbalists to cure bruises received by 'woman's willfullness in stumbling upon their nasty husband's fists'!

It is said to be the 'husband' of Lily of the Valley - plant the two together and your garden will be filled with harmony.

[bogmyrtle]

The Anemone - a beautiful but scentless spring flower. It was prized by early herbalists as it was one of the first flowers of the season. The flower was wrapped in a scarlet cloth and tied to the arm of a sick person. The following chant was recited: I gathered thee for a remedy against disease.

Aubretia named after the French botanist Aubriet who found it growing inbetween rocks in Greece. It was introduced to Britain in 1710 and is loved by brimstone butterflies.

Weeds! - in the 18th century they were thought of as 'a usleless abundance' and that they grew at God's command as a punishment for the sins of Adam. It was seen as an act of rebellion against the Creator if you attempted to rid your garden of them completely.

Cuckoo - in parts of the Midlands, it was said that if a maiden ran into a field early to hear a cuckoo's call, she should take off her left shoe and in it she would find a man's hair of the same colour as her future husband. It is also said, that wherever you are when you hear your first cuckoo call of the year, you will return to that area.

Vegetable Garden:
An ancient country practice involved the gardener, removing his trousers and sitting on the ground, if it was too cold for the naked flesh, it would be too cold for the seeds. Please don't try this at home! Well, unless you really want to and your neighbours can't see you.

In Cheshire, many awaited the arrival of the yellow wagtail before risking planting their potatoes. Hence, the yellow wagtail was known as the potato dipper, presumably from the action of its tail.

[emseypop]

might have known I was born on the patron st of mildews day.

[jasmine]

Just found this thread Myrtle - lots of interesting stuff here.
I was reading in the paper yesterday that girls born on April 19th were often called Primrose and the writer (who had been born on April 19th) was thankful she had not although her grandmother called her Primrose for years because she wouldn't accept that her grand-daughter had been given another name!

[bogmyrtle]

Apr 7, 2009 6:27:53 GMT 1 @jasmine said:

Just found this thread Myrtle - lots of interesting stuff here.
I was reading in the paper yesterday that girls born on April 19th were often called Primrose and the writer (who had been born on April 19th) was thankful she had not although her grandmother called her Primrose for years because she wouldn't accept that her grand-daughter had been given another name!

I didn't realise that Jasmine, thanks, I just assumed people thought it was a nice name! Oops! I'm taking it from a book we picked up in a second-hand shop somewhere.

[jasmine]

I should spend more time looking in charity shops and second hand book shops because other folk have always found real treasures of old books like the one you're using Myrtle.

[bogmyrtle]

Apr 7, 2009 10:07:40 GMT 1 @jasmine said:

I should spend more time looking in charity shops and second hand book shops because other folk have always found real treasures of old books like the one you're using Myrtle.

We are terrible Jasmine - we have 13 boxes of books in the loft, without the piles in the back bedroom! We are having new bookcase later in the year and a good sort out -- hubby just doesn't know yet

This one is an old NT book. There is a good website as well abebooks, and of course we are not that far away from Hay on Wye for a trip!

[jasmine]

Just looked at AbeBooks Myrtle - what a fantastic site - you'd need days!