Valentine's Day is here again, and whilst the shops may be heaving under the weight of red roses and chocolates, it's also a great time to get hot and spicy on the windowsill or in the greenhouse with the first sowings of this year's chillies..... These red devils can vary widely in the time it takes for them to germinate and produce fruit,  (depending upon the variety), so getting a head start makes sense.

Yesterday was *Candlemas, the ancient festival which marks the halfway point between the shortest day and the spring equinox.  The drifts of Snowdrops (Galanthus Nivalis)..... or Candlemas Bells as they are also known, can be seen peeping out of woodland banks, road verges, parks and gardens in profusion.  And whilst the rhyme goes that 'The snowdrop, in purest white array, First rears her head on Candlemas day', it's truer to say that some snowdrops have been out in flower well before Candlemas and will continue to flower for a month or so yet.  But it's not just their simple beauty that I find attractive.  It's a sure sign that there is renewal and life, a sense of things to come, when the ground still seems locked in a frozen shroud. 

*(Candlemas - also a Christian festival marking the purification of Mary, forty days after the birth of Jesus and the presentation of Jesus at the Temple.  Candlemas is also the day that the Church's candles for the year are blessed).