When we are reading either prose or poetry (and even sometimes in literature), from the earliest times, we constantly find references to certain flowers. Yet, for many of us today, the quaint old time names, rarely call forth any mental picture of the actual plants or flowers, except, perhaps, of a few that are common, such as the daisy and the daffodil.

Yet, around some of those plants and flowers, a wealth of legend and folklore has arisen, and their very names, a numerous as they may be, reveal glimpses of history and custom. Others evoke keen observation of nature that has contributed toward they naming.

As a girl, my Grama Daisy always told me that, "Many plants received their titles, when fairies were abroad in the land and needed thimbles and stools and rings to dance upon." Well, I was skeptical as to if that was the absolute truth, but as a girl, it did seem plausible, especially when she recited little bits of those poems.

She also taught me that other flowers and plants won their names by their colors or by their issues, real or imagined, and by their fancied resemblance to something else. Later, as I grew up and became a hobby gardener, I've dreamed of many of my favorite imaginary poet's bouquets -- especially on snow bound days.

Here are a few flowers and their poets

that dance upon my mind each spring.

I can't see a daffodil, without a mental picture of a lanky William Wordsworth, sauntering along one day, somewhat pensive and sad, when came across a glorious spring sight, and penned for all poetic eternity:

"A host of golden daffodils

Beside the lake, beneath the trees,

Fluttering and dancing in the breeze . . . . "

While Wordworth's poem is the most famous of poems about daffodils, over and over in literature, poets continued to refer to the early blossoming of the daffydowndilly. Another daffodil poem that is still widely known is:

"When daffodils begin to peer,--

With heigh! the doxy o'er the dale,--

Why, then comes in the sweet o'the year;

For the red blood reigns in the winter's pale."

William Shakespeare -- The Winter's Tale

Clearly, it didn't escape either of these two authors that the daffodil, who is often the most familiar flowery herald, shouting that spring is near -- was an inspirational flower and deserved a special honor among flowers. A century ago, country children were fond of "going daffying" as they called daffodil picking. Daffdowndilly is the old English country name, and many songs were written in addition to the poems, in the flower's honor.

Poet Robert Burns knew a few things about the loveliest of spring flowers when he spoke of the rather pale Primrose, "the firstling of the year."

No other wild flower is better known the the simple beautiful primrose. It is abundant in early spring, before the other flowers are out, and it's name literally means "first rose."

Grama Daisy told me that cowslips were the legendary hiding places of fairies, who would creep into them during rain showers. The fairies and cowslips of yesterday's childhood tales about times when "Yellow cowslips paint the grass," tickled my girlish imagination.

Still, it was kind of hard to picture a cowslip in Southern California. They require lush meadows of heavy soils, like clay or chalk loam. I could only look at them in pictures.

Just about all the classic famous poet's at one time or another mentioned cowslips though in verse. Some examples are:

• Robert Burns
• Robert Blair
• John Milton
• William Shakespeare
• Lord Alfred Tennyson

Yet, what makes the cowslip unique in the poetry of my adult mind, is the fact that they are well-known in Europe -- as greens in salads in Spain, flavors in wines and vinegars in English cooking, sugared and eaten in other world cuisine. To me, there is a certain poetry to flowers that are used in cooking.

Long before the song, "Lilac Wine" written by James Shelton (words and music) in 1950, lilacs have been a great source of poetic inspiration for generations upon generations.

Most beloved of poets, the trees (or flowering shurbs) known as lilacs are the purple (sometimes white) delights, both for the bloom and the scent. These days we all know that lilac scented bath soaps, etc. are well-known for being a scent that soothes the modern soul.

Some poems that come to mind that honor lilacs are those of Mrs. Anna S. Stephens (The Old Apple Tree), Alfred Noyes (The Barrel Organ), and Walt Whitman (When Lilacs Last in the Door-yard Bloomed).

The lilac is a shrub (tree) belonging to the olive family and is a native of Western Asia. Later, it was brought to Europe and eventually it was carried to every part of the United States by settlers.

It can grow as high as fifteen feet and is very hardy, but if not pruned it may be choked by suckers which come up from the roots.

It bears its fragrant flowers in clusters at the end of the twigs, and a lilac hedge in full bloom gratifies both the eye and the sense of smell.

There are several species and many varieties, ranging in dolor from a dark bluish purple, through delicate lavender to pure white.

Ingredients:

• 4 quarts lilac flower petals
• 1 quart of primrose flower petals
• 2-2/3 lb granulated sugar
• 2 - 3 lemons (depending upon taste)
• 8 pints water
• 1 teaspoon yeast nutrient
• 1 teaspoon Lalvin champagne wine yeast

Instructions:

• Put water on to boil while culling through and rinsing flowers.
• Put flowers in primary and when water boils pour over flowers.
• Cover primary tightly and set aside for 48 hours.
• Strain flowers through nylon straining bag and squeeze to extract all flavor, then discard pulp.
• Stir sugar, yeast nutrient, juice of lemon into primary and stir until completely dissolved.
• Sprinkle dry yeast on top without stirring or add activated yeast culture to primary.
• Recover primary and ferment 7 days.
• Transfer liquid to secondary and fit airlock.
• Ferment 30 days and rack, top up and refit airlock.
• Rack again every 30 days until wine is clear and no longer dropping sediment.
• Rack into bottles and allow to age 3-6 months.

More "most talked about flowers" among poets of yesterday in their poems were the:

• Black Bryony -- This is a climbing plant that twines round the support by which it rises. The flowers are yellow-green and the roots were used to cure bruises.
• Butcher's Broom -- The butcher's broom is so called because butchers used to preserve meat from rats and mice by covering it with this plant. The small greenish white flowers give way to scarlet red berries.
• Cuckoo-pint-- which as a great rolled-up leaf, like a monk's hood, inside which forms bright red berries that are called lords and ladies.
• Common Broom-- The broom has been described by the poet as "yellow and bright as bullion unalloyed." Where other plants will not thrive, it clothes the landscape with beauty. It is often confused with the plant furze.
• Common Meadow Buttercup -- The buttercup, with bright, shining yellow flowers grows in meadows through North America, where it has been naturalized from Europe. Children should not bite the stem, as it can make them very ill.
• Common Meadow Clover -- The clover may be magenta, pink, or rarely, whitish. It is sweet-scented and grown in field and roadsides through Canada and the U.S.
• Foxglove -- The handsome, stately foxglove, with its flowers like crimson bells, has many names, such as: Thimble-flower, Fairy's Petticoat, and Fairy-cap. Foxglove means "folk's" or "fairy's glove." The leaves are broad and long.
• Harebell-- The harbell, with it's pretty little blue flowers, is the true bluebell of Scotland. It is called hare-bell because it grows where hares (rabbits) live, but the true name of the flower is heather-bell.
• Heartsease-- The heartsease, or wild pansy is really a violet, but its color varies from white to yellow and purpose. Usually it has two or three of these tints together. It was formerly used as a folk medicine.
• Honeysuckle -- Few flowers are more deliciously fragrant than the honeysuckle, of "luscious woodbine," which in some parts of Scotland used to be placed in cowsheds to prevent the cattle from being bewitched.
• Hyacinth -- This lovely spring flower spreads carpets of exquisite blue in the openings of the woodland in the British Isles each April and May. It's common name is bluebell.
• Nightshade-- The deadly nightshade got it's name legitimately, as people who eat the berries soon die. The flowers are in the form of dull purple bells. However, a preparation of deadly nightshade called "belladonna" was used as a medicinal.
• Purple Heath -- This plant, also known as the Fine-leaved Heath, is the commonest of all heaths. It grows as a bush, with narrow leaves and purple flowers.
• Red Poppy -- The scarlet poppy is, perhaps, the most brilliantly colored flower. In fields of grain, where it used to grow abundantly, its bright scarlet flower formed a striking contrast to golden waving grains.