Anticipation: hope, joy, trust, awaiting, promise, high hopes, impatience, contemplation, outlook, expectation, foresight...
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Tombe la neige Tu ne viendras pas ce soir Tombe la neige Et mon cœur s'habille de noir Ce soyeux cortège Tout en larmes blanches L'oiseau sur la branche Pleure le sortilège Tu ne viendras pas ce soir Me crie mon désespoir Mais tombe la neige Impassible manège Tombe la neige Tu ne viendras pas ce soir Tombe la neige Tout est blanc de désespoir Triste certitude Le froid et l'absence Cet odieux silence Blanche solitude Tu ne viendras pas ce soir Me crie mon désespoir Mais tombe la neige Impassible manège Autumn is like an old book: Marred spines turn mean yellow, staples rust red-orange. Every stained page is stressed by a splat of color. Rough-red, like an old tavern, we become hungry birds and prepare for fall. Shape and shadow are candied citron as lanterns turn bitter yellow. Autumn is a red fox, a goblet filled with dark wine, a hot chilli pepper with smoky eyes. Pressed leaves take in the colors of seafood paella and saffron; these leaves are like death, climaxing with a smile. Autumn: Her dress is a net of mussels; dark shelled, it covers up summer’s weatherbeaten body. So pull out your boots and stand on an aged, wood floor like an evergreen. Mary Hamrick : "Autumn"  
Sicilian refers to the region, Honey speaks about the nectar secreted by the flowers, Garlic points out the family bonds. But there is not a single hint in the common name of Nectaroscordum siculum that might reveal the skunky smell the plant (especially its leaves) gives off when bruised. But who wants to intentionally injure the fancy twisted leaves of this exceptionally ornamental garlic to be repelled by the odour? Nobody. But everybody is or will be enchanted by the elegant air Nectaroscordum brings to every garden, even the smallest one. This species deserves our attention if we care for reliable, ornamental and unusual plants and want to look after them in the garden. Although the list of such individuals is long, why not start with Sicilian Honey Garlic?
 It happened long time ago in a country that never existed. A happy country whose only inhabitants were gods of all sorts. Filled with insatiable longing for beauty, the almighty gods resolved to create a flower, a perfect flower, far more beautiful than all the flowers thriving in the endless and colourful meadows of the country. Surprisingly, the realisation of the dream appeared to be impossible, as the divine designers could not work out the shape for that perfect flower. All suggested forms fell short of their expectations. They were all too inferior. The initial enthusiasm slowly morphed into doubt and then despair, which had never been favourite emotions among gods. Suddenly, one of them cried that he had seen an ideal shape they might copy. It was...
 One of the ancient remedies for treatment of respiratory disorders disguised as a little sun. The bright yellow flowers of coltsfoot appear early spring literally out of nowhere, especially if that nowhere looks like damp roadsides, ditches, forgotten construction sites and other disturbed places. To colonise such locations it requires a lot determination and wit. Coughwort (another common name of the plant) possess both of them as it spreads by underground rhizomes and seeds. The clever side of the expansion lies in the fact that its flowers appear first and when they fade away the leaves emerge. Hardly anyone sees the connection between the two stages. Seeing the healthy leaves we are looking forward to flowers, which... never happens. Slightly disappointed we leave them alone and forget, the outcome Tussilago is really very happy about.
"Once upon a time the Virgin was slowly waking to Jerusalem carrying her little baby in her arms. She wanted to present her beloved son to the Temple. The weather was hot and she knew that soon she would have to feed the infant. She sat quietly in a nearby garden and begun to nurse the baby when suddenly... she had a horrible vision which made her weep without consolation. She saw the future fate of her son and started trembling with horror. As she shook, the mouth of the baby pulled loose from her teat and several milk drops fell onto the leaves of a plant growing next to her feet. At the same time her tears dropped on the little buds changing them pink red, the colour of her weeping eyes. When the buds opened into flowers, they were as blue as Mary's veil." That was the way how Jerusalem cowslip or Mary's milk drops, or Adam and Eve, or soldiers and sailors, or spotted dog, or lungwort, or Pulmonaria officinalis appeared in the world.
And extremely easy to find because it can be grown on... a window sill. Unlike the four-leaf clover whose dubious or at least mutable existence makes all of us spend hours in the meadow, busily scanning all growing shamrock to find a reward: a four-leaf trefoil. You really are lucky if you find one. However, if you do not feel like hunting for luck in the field and would like to have at home a potful of lucky leaves - without any substantial effort - all you need to do is buy a bag of small bulbs labelled: Oxalis deppei or Iron Cross (its common name) and simply plant them in a pot. Within two or three weeks the first lucky leaves will appear and start working wonders. Some of them are even observable as the leaves move. Botanists have coined a somewhat little flattering term for that activity and call it nasty. Well, it is the photonasty.
Do not go to the garden of flowers!
O Friend! go not there; In your body is the garden of flowers. Take your seat on the thousand petals of the lotus, and there gaze on the Infinite Beauty. 
Siberian Flag is beautifully blue. And graceful. And... . There is a long list of outstanding characteristics in the catalogue which illustrate this particular perennial. Two of them deserve special attention, though: reliable and eternal. If we want to understand the essential meaning of the word 'perennial', Iris sibirica satisfies all possible questions and doubts we might harbour. It is an everlasting plant whose elegant flowers appear every late spring adorning gardens with hopeful blues and purples that are so hard to match. Only delphiniums might consider competing with these irises but instead, they only prove to be a perfect complement to Siberian Flag: a vertical one, whereas Iris sibirica expands its blue clouds rather horizontally. What a lucky -and geometric- coincidence they bloom at the same time.
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AuthorI was destined to be born gardener. In order to become a professional one I had to enjoy years of studying at various schools and universities... read more Archives
May 2017
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