Flowers on the Windowsill

Wouldn't you know that all the photographs I have for essay-drafts, poems, Venice & Strasbourg posts are b&w? Of course. Things are fairly dark/grim here lately. So...some flowers on windowsills by Christine Gill via Design*Sponge in November 2008. I ran two photos on Giulia Geranium back then. My family & friends laughed at me for doing exactly this. I'm off to read, write, figure out administrative matters (urgh), & swipe some rose hips that are about to be cruelly cut down before fulfilling their destiny. Christine sells 21 flower prints at Imagekind. (She also has a December 2008 photo set of her then-new cat's introduction to the household. He's a dignified gentleman in a tuxedo.)

Are we about to go nuclear? Right now WAMU-FM/NPR has gone off the air & the Naval Observatory Master Clock/Universal Time is repeating the universal time over & over in a computer-generated voice. [Five minutes later- Now a rattled sounded announcer has come on to say, oops, we do not know what the heck that was about. We'll look into it. You do that. It was way weird & disturbed my cat. Now, Kevin Spacey is making a joke about it. At the tone, the time will be...that made me laugh, so thank you, Kevin.]

Tutu & Blue Asters

Every flower has a history and every flower symbolizes something. Often the history and symbols are confusing and contradictory but they are still fascinating. If your birthday is in the month of September, your flower is the aster. Here is the story and language of your flower.

The Latin name for the aster is Aster, which literally means star. The association with stars, clearly references the flower’s shape. While we no longer use the word aster to refer to stars, we still use words that use the root aster in words with related meanings. The word asterisk literally means ‘little star,’ while the word disaster refers to something that occurred under a bad omen or something that was ‘ill-starred.’

The colloquial names for the aster are starwort and Michaelmas daisy. (From Suite101 by Melissa Howard)

(Blue aster by zizzy via flickr)

Prowling for Flowers

It grew late. Through the open door, stealthily, came the scent of madonna lilies, almost as if it were prowling abroad.
--D.H. Lawrence

Well, close enough, though these aren't madonnas. They are Casablanca lilies on sale at White Flower Farm. I recently purchased a White Flower Farm 100-daffodil naturalizing kit for a friend & her husband's first anniversary. The bulbs will be shipped when planting time arrives. Meanwhile, today's White Flower Farm email highlighted these scented lilies & I can't resist showing them. I hope to resist buying any.

As a child, I was inordinately proud that my name means 'lily' in every language in which it appears. I was flower-mad from birth. My mother received a phone call from a neighbor at early dusk in late summer. Do you know where she is? She's naked in Mrs. N's rose garden. Uh oh. They split up & cornered me (I was a fast runner, even for 4 years old). I remember a thorn in my little paw--I blamed them (I must have been drunk on scent, to be so cheeky). As they rudely interrupted my communion with flowers, I'd clamped my fist around the (very few!) roses I'd pinched. My neighbor apologized for frightening me. My mother was annoyed, as one did not apologize to a child for anything. In her world, anyway. She said I was a bee in a former life. Or a dolphin. I wish she'd make up her mind.

If you have any room in your garden - you're lucky & here's the link to White Flower Farm. I've never had a thing go wrong with anything I've purchased from them. (I used to have a garden.) Many people shriek & say, the prices. Yes, well, you get what you pay for in these matters. (E.g., perfume)

[flower images via White Flower Farm]

Roses in May

I have to live vicariously through a friend redoing a garden (or rescuing it). She didn't know David Austin roses & so I gave her my catalogue which she has devoured.* Just spoke with her & she's chosen a lovely climber, Abraham Darby. It will work here in our annoying climate. These photographs are from the D.A. US 2010 catalogue. Here's the link to order one. Many years ago a British friend introduced me to them...when you had to order from the UK. No longer, yay.

*She's ordered a new catalogue & will give it to me; I need it, along with a decent fan/& or heater, to get to sleep. It's my bedtime book.

Week's End - Floralia/Country Girl

Mother of flowers, Flora, present be, / We raise the chant midst jocund games to thee. / Begun in April, unto May deferred, / For both are thine, the jocund song is heard/Upon the confines of both months we stand/Embellished with the bounties of thy hand.--Ovid (sexy devil)

Update: I'm editing the mess that was this post. Enjoy the images. (Saturday, 3 July 2010)

The Rose Thief

...c'est moi.

No, I don't think Sophia is stealing these beautiful roses; but I'm sure she can relate from growing up without much at all on the outskirts of of Napoli. I hope so. I could use some support (even imaginary). I have been clipping bits of an overgrown, messy Dortmund rose climber in front of my little brick building. I'm the only one who takes care of it, stringing it back, begging some zealous apartment dwellers to leave it be, not to complain to the office to rip it out. Over here in a corner, we don't have the perennials that Eleanor Roosevelt & friends planted (yes!) when the complex was built.

I will explain my indefensible behavior soon. Right now, I'm off to more scary dental doings. But I've been working on something regarding my flower problem (Last summer I had lovely dandelions in little green & blue bottles...hey, it was the best I could do for a few weeks...that & ok, a few yellow French marigolds...and...) It's going to be hot today & I think that's the end of the roses for this blooming. Too late to sneak out & take a last few (I left a ton on there). I hope the French marigolds are put in soon. Otherwise, it's parsley-in-a-creamer for now.

Beautiful Sophia by Alfred Eisenstaedt for LIFE via myvintagevogue (see Jessica's site in the right-sidebar).