Cicely Mary Barker Archives

Welcome February with Cicely Mary Barker: the Fair Maids of February and the Snowdrop Fairy

“Cicely would draw the flowers and the fairies and then write poetry about them.” The English illustrator Cicely Mary Barker is remembered for depicting fairies and flowers. In Cicely’s fabulous fantasy world, every flower was granted its particular fairy to protect it from harm. For winter, Cicely created fairies and poems for these plants: Snowdrop,…

February 2, 2021 Ideas For Your Garden, The Nature Principle at Home, How to Propagate 375 Plants by Richard Rosenfeld, and February’s Snowdrop Fairy

Today we celebrate a star from the silent film age, whose best movie featured a blind woman selling flowers. We’ll also learn about Candlemas – the ancient celebration of the quickening of the year. Candlemas is associated with the snowdrop, candles, and predicting just how much longer winter will last…. We hear a passage about…

Deep Sleeps the Winter

by Cicely Mary Barker Deep sleeps the winter, Cold, wet, and grey; Surely all the world is dead; Spring is far away. Wait! the world shall waken; It is not dead, for lo, The Fair Maids of February Stand in the snow! As featured onThe Daily Gardener podcast: Words inspired by the garden are the…

I Have Never Seen a Fairy

by Cicily Mary Barker I have drawn all the plants and flowers carefully, from real ones, but I have never seen a fairy… Note: Barker loved wildflowers, but she didn’t believe in fairies. Barker wrote the quote above in the foreword to Flower Fairies of the Wayside. As featured onThe Daily Gardener podcast:…

White Clover Fairy

by Cicily Mary Barker I’m little White Clover, kind and clean; Look at my threefold leaves so green; Hark to the buzzing of hungry bees: “Give us your honey, Clover, please!” Yes, little bees, and welcome, too! My honey is good, and meant for you! Note: Barker loved wildflowers, but she didn’t believe…

Forget-Me-Not Fairy

by Cicily Mary Barker So small, so blue, in grassy places My flowers raise Their tiny faces. By streams, my bigger sisters grow, And smile in gardens, In a row. I’ve never seen a garden plot; But though I’m small Forget me not! Note: Barker loved wildflowers, but she didn’t believe in…

June 28, 2019 Giant Flowers for Paul Bunyan Day, Harry V. Harlan, Importing Seeds, Henry Nehrling, Cicely Mary Barker, Plant Families by Ross Bayton, Pruning Spring-Flowering Shrubs, and the Effects of Culture

Today is National Paul Bunyan Day. In Minnesota, most folks fondly remember the tales of Paul and Babe – his big blue ox. Speaking of big, Many gardeners have a fondness for giant plants. They are perfect if you have lots of space, or if you just prefer the look of tall or giant plants.…

The Lilac Fairy

by Cicily Mary Barker White May is flowering, Red May beside Laburnum is showering Gold far and wide; But I sing of Lilac, The dearly-loved Lilac, Lilac, in Maytime A joy and a pride! I love her so much That I never can tell If she’s sweeter to look at, Or sweeter to smell. As…