Sunday poem and pictures

Shakespeare

BLOW, blow, thou winter wind,
Thou art not so unkind
As man's ingratitude;
Thy tooth is not so keen
Because thou art not seen,
Although thy breath be rude.
Heigh-ho! sing heigh-ho! unto the green holly:
Most friendship is feigning, most loving mere folly:
Then, heigh-ho! the holly!
This life is most jolly.

Freeze, freeze, thou bitter sky,
Thou dost not bite so nigh
As benefits forgot:
Though thou the waters warp,
Thy sting is not so sharp
As friend remember'd not.
Heigh-ho! sing heigh-ho! unto the green holly:
Most friendship is feigning, most loving mere folly:
Then, heigh-ho! the holly!
This life is most jolly.

Another South African lily, crocosmia. In the wild in South Africa these are usually bright orange but there are also yellow and red forms. I was surprised to find the orange ones growing wild here in Oregon. I guess they escaped from gardens and naturalized because the climate suits them so well. They are deciduous and bloom all summer long and die down in winter. They are very prolific and each spring, when they start coming back, there will be twice as many plants as the year before. You can see that they are related to what is probably South Africa's most famous lily, the gladiolus.