The First Snowdrop

Alexander Stewart, Viscount Merrick, is honor-bound to marry Anne Parrish after a snowstorm strands them alone together overnight. But nothing is going to force him into living with her when he believes she deliberately ensnared him. He settles her on his country estate and does not see her again until his grandmother, determined to bring them back together, invites Anne to join the whole family at a house party in honor of her Golden Wedding anniversary. Alexander finds Anne much changed, and he discovers that his feelings toward her are changing too. But will his angry, newly confident wife allow herself to be wooed?

Elegant flowers dressed in simple white and green, snowdrops look far too fragile to deal with wintry weather. But that’s just what they do, and they have become treasured by horticulturalists for their ability to flower in the earliest parts of the year. In this book, Gail Harland explores the role snowdrops have played in gardens and popular culture alike, as a treasured genus for enthusiast growers and an important symbol of hope and consolation. Harland explores a variety of cultural meanings for the deceptively petit flower. In Victorian England snowdrop bands encouraged chastity among young women. They have been favorite subjects in paintings in many different eras, and today they are the iconic symbols of several hope-giving charities. Poets and writers have written extensively about them, as have pharmacists, who have used their chemical, galantamine, in the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease. Today some of their rarer bulbs can fetch record-breaking sums, and annual festivals that celebrate them draw people from all over the world. Walking among their brilliant white beds, Harland offers an ideal companion for any plant-lover who has ever eagerly awaited this treasured sign of spring.

Provides information on snowdrops, flowers with white bell-shaped petals known as the harbingers of spring.

The best of Kate McIlhagga's work in one collection. Includes poems and prayers of gathering and beginning; creation and self; Advent and Epiphany; Lent and mothering; Easter and Pentecost; pilgrimage and endings and blessings.

Wander through 2024 with the RHS Garden Almanac – a seasonal guide to growing, harvesting and grounding yourself in nature. For the first time, the Royal Horticultural Society bring you their gardening almanac. From what to do in the veg patch to seeds to sow; the moonrise and set to seasonal folktales; how to build a hedgehog home to identifying types of fungi – this book is the perfect companion to dip in and out of as the year turns. Including special features on what the RHS gardeners are working on each month – find valuable wisdom, ideas and small pockets of pleasure to enjoy all year round. Guiding you gently through the seasons, this book provides tools, advice, inspiration and things to do for every month of the year. The perfect gift for gardeners.