“There’s rosemary, that’s for remembrance
Pray you, love, remember.
And there is pansies, that’s for thoughts…
There’s fennel for you, and columbines.
There’s rue for you, and here’s some for me.
We may call it “herb of grace” o’Sundays.
-Oh, you must wear your rue with a difference.
There’s a daisy. I would give you some violets,
But they withered all when my father died.”
BERTIE WOOSTER Shakespeare?
JEEVES Indeed, Sir.
Hamlet Act IV Scene 5 to be precise. The flowers are those of Ophelia’s bouquet. Over 400 years after Hamlet was written several of these common flowers grow in the cemetery, including columbine.
Columbine was originally a wild flower of English fields and meadows and can occasionally still be spotted in the countryside. In Elizabethan times it became a popular garden flower. Subsequently, many cultivated varieties have been bred.
Its botanical name comes from the Latin “Aquila” meaning eagle, because the petals were thought to resemble an eagle's talons. Its English name comes from the Latin for dove-Columba, as it was thought it’s nectaries resembled the heads of doves.
In order to grow, seeds need soil, water air, sunlight and space. To find space, seeds need to travel away from the parent plant. They are adapted in various ways to make use of wind, water, animals or gravity. Some even have exploding fruit pods! But how, gentle reader, I hear you ask did columbine seeds arrive in Heene Cemetery? And how did they travel over 800 miles to get there?
Our journey begins in Cheddar, Somerset in the garden of my old uncle C. One would describe him as a somewhat reluctant gardener. In his twilight years the hedges were trimmed and the lawn mown, but the flower beds were left untouched to an extent that the columbines took over completely. Come May, the Grannies Bonnets were a splendid sight. One summer I collected some seeds and took them home to Northumberland. They were sown in the backyard and immediately thrived. One imagines they still do. After 5 years I left Berwick-on-Tweed and travelled to West Sussex, taking seeds with me.
Johnny Appleseed, eat your heart out. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnny_Appleseed .
Eventually they were sown in the cemetery. They are not entirely happy living in our old meadowland, but come late spring a few flowers always appear. They were sown on the grave of Annie Holman. Annie died on 14th October. Coincidentally, and somewhat pleasingly (though perhaps not for Annie) she died on my birthday, so I feel a small connection to her.
To read more about Aquilegia vulgaris, check out Rob Tomlinson’s description and lovely photos of the plant https://www.heenecemetery.org.uk/species/columbine
Ivor Curtis