St Barnabas’s Day, Barnaby Bright of the longest day, was the day of ragged robin, which bloomed then in the hayfields. Forster’s old rhyme of the saints’ flowers gives it to the saint. He also noted that the poppies cast a red mantle over the fields about St Barnabas.
Ragged Robin at Barnaby Bright
11 June · England
Lore and belief
When St. Barnaby bright smiles night and day, / Poor Ragged Robin blooms in the hay.
From Forster's Perennial Calendar, p. 108. Read the original
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