Help a Monarch.
Read More
Why I Love Ants-
Hi, My name is Karen and I am a floraholic, I especially have a weakness for Peonies.
-Romantic peonies are regarded as an omen of good fortune and a happy marriage.
-They are the floral symbol of China and believed to bring good luck.
-Ants play an important role in the blooming of peony flowers. The flower buds produce nectar that attracts ants, which help to open the buds. Although peonies will bloom without ants, the ants do help them along.
- In ancient times, peonies were used for medicinal purposes including curing headaches, relieving pain during childbirth and the treatment of asthma.
- Long ago, people believed that peonies protected them from demons.
-They can live to be ONE HUNDRED years old!
Zen Peony
I'd rather have roses on my table than diamonds on my neck. ~Emma Goldman
I’d have to say I agree with Emma Goldman on this one. For one of my landmark birthdays, I asked my husband for a large rock. Not the kind of rock I’d put on my finger, but a large boulder for the front yard. I wanted to plant flowers around it.
I took a bare spot in the very back of my yard, behind the woods, years ago, and turned it into a cutting garden.
Watching my mother die from Alzheimer’s was very painful. The experience taught me how to care for my soul. Starting that garden was part of that journey and what an amazing gift and sacred space that garden bloomed into.
Having beautiful fresh flowers in my home was one of those small things that soothed me while I was caring for my mother. I also liked to bring flowers to her.
I once thought, if I could have peonies all year long it would make me happy. But then again, would it? There is something special and sacred about the rhythm of nature. Eating fresh foods that are in season, enjoying the blooms of flowers when they are naturally in bloom and not forced. I have more gratitude and appreciation for some flowers and foods because they are only available once a year. They are ripe when it is their time, their season, and then they are gone until next year. I enjoy them more deeply knowing that.
There is nothing that teaches the art of being in the present moment like Alzheimer’s. There is also nothing that teaches being in the present moment as well as a blooming flower.
Zen Peony
DO YOU ALLOW YOURSELF TO DREAM?
"All the flowers of all the tomorrows are in the seeds of today."
Indian Proverb
While a bloom opens in its own time, while being urged from the sun, the moon, the seasons, it's seeds are like our dreams. We need to dream. We need to allow our imaginations to cultivate the seeds of our dreams. Allow your mind to be the good soil that beautiful flowers bloom in.
Photography by Karen Pulfer Focht ©