Wednesday’s Flower Gallery

With every flower I pick… I find its beauty and each one has a memory tied to it. Whether it’s the Flight of Butterflies Iris that bloomed before my very eyes in my garden, or the Nun’s Cap Orchid from the New York Botanical Garden Orchid Show and how grateful I was for the oasis in winter. This one, though, has a more personal remembrance of visiting my dear friend Laurie in Vancouver,...

Simple… Yet not… A stem… Thin and hollow supporting the main attraction. Two leaves… Sage green, soft and fuzzy, with curly filaments and veins running through them. A flower… Brilliant red bracts, with tiny little “flowers” protruding like exploding fireworks. Those are a few of the nuances I noticed. What do you see?

Gently cup your hands together… Yes, you can do it (no one is watching, and so what if they are). Cup them together as if holding something fragile, so you can see the inside of your hands. Now imagine your four fingers on one hand form a soft, silky, orange petal with slightly ragged edges, and then your palm and thumb create the second petal. Repeat on your other hand and imagine them float...

A profusion of petals… Abound from what started as a tiny seed. With nurturing from nature, a ½” bud blooms, and from its center each petal unfurls and stretches out onto the next, creating layers upon layers. As I slow my gaze, I notice how each petal has its own distinct shape: some broad and rounded, others still slowly uncurling, creating this complete and complex blossom.

With scissors in one hand… And a glass mason jar filled with cool water in the other, I walked out my back door to cut some flowers from my cutting garden. After choosing one variety and cutting it a little haphazardly, they settled into their new habitat with some blooms ever so erect, and others dangling over the side…

Snow in summer… Can it be possible? Yes it can, and it covered parts of my garden in the most lush, white veil of star-shaped flowers and silver foliage. Its delicate petals remind me of a New England gentle snowfall, but I might appreciate this “snow” a little more since it didn’t bring with it the cold and short winter days.

It has such a sweet demeanor… Yet it’s a little dickens (as my mom would say), as it never ends up in the same place in my garden each year. Its seeds blow in the wind and land where they see fit. It’s definitely not concerned with my well laid out plan for my garden. Instead it keeps me on my toes and helps me to learn that not everything has an order. Sometimes it’s about letting go a...

Ouch..! I cried out, as I was stabbed in the temple by a very pointed and sharp-ended leaf that encompassed this delicate, soft flower. After getting over the surprise of it, I could only laugh at myself, as I should have been more aware of my “hostile” surroundings. It did then beg the question, “how does such a harsh environment create such a gentle flower?” Sometimes an exterior is c...

With my lens, I focused on the petals… Which brought forth delicate details. Each one looked as if it had been hand-painted ever so gently. The first stroke was a sunny yellow and then the burnished orange followed, only reaching halfway down the petal. As I looked through my lens, I became curious as to what was beyond those petals. So, I adjusted my focal point, and though I lost the petal...

Somehow this flower never made it… As Wednesday’s Flower or to the Cutting Room Floor, and yet it’s a favorite image of mine. I’m not sure how I missed it, but after watching these flowers bloom in my garden again this year, I wanted to share it with you. I don’t know if it’s the composition, the colors or just seeing this bud in all of its details ready to bloom, but I love seeing ...