Drops of Flowery Calm

Introduction

We all have a calm place inside each of us, which can get buried under layers of living, so we end up feeling frazzled and overtired.

Being unable to feel the inner calm 'you' can lead to feelings of burn-out on some or all levels; physical, mental, emotional, and intellectual.  In our modern society, our overloaded systems struggle to catch a break.

It is the simplest things that bring us back to our calm centre.

Nature, ever constant and present, is one of them. Gifts of colour, peace, serenity, and restoration, as it gently shifts the inner debris so we can feel calm again.

Blue

Blue is the colour of tranquillity, and calmness and irises symbolize faith and hope.

My daughter and I lived in an old lodge house for a few blessed years. There was a huge park wrapped around a lake, with woods and a children’s playground, right outside our garden walls. Whenever we tended to the garden, the air was filled with sounds of nature and happy children playing. Those heart memories still linger to this day.

There were many plants and shrubs to discover. Our first year there was a delight as we watched daffodils, miniature narcissi, forget-me-nots, tulips, raspberry ripple peonies, apricot, yellow, pink & red roses, irises and blue delphiniums appear.

Ducks used to rest on the top of the wall, especially in springtime, and they prompted the renovation of a pond that sat in the corner.

I found a wooden duck we called Herbert and placed him at the pond edge to encourage his feathered buddies to join him. It took a full year for a nesting pair to choose our pond as their home, and they settled into life with Harry, the injured baby crow who lived in the laurel bushes and Daisy and Blossom, our happy free-roaming chickens.

I used to watch the ducks and hens pottering about as I washed up in the kitchen. Their pond was backed by a flower border, running right up to Harry’s nest in the laurels. Each springtime, this burst into colour with the nodding yellow heads of daffodils and a swathe of blue forget-me-nots covering the earth beneath them.

Blue is the colour of the sky and sea and symbolizes depth, stability, loyalty, wisdom, confidence, intelligence, faith and truth. All are beneficial to the mind and body.

Pink

Pink symbolises friendship, affection, harmony, inner peace, and approachability and is the sweet side of red.

A pink rose flows with femininity, elegance, sweetness, and refinement.

Pink Freesias symbolize innocence, and friendship and are an ancient symbol of trust. Freesias were my Granny’s favourite flowers, and their scent always brings her close.

My Granny Jean was a skilled seamstress, and I have heart-filled memories from childhood, of her alongside her daughter (my Mum, Trish) and her Mum (my Great Granny, Elizabeth) and my Dad’s Mum, Constance, coming together to sew, embroider, knit, and crochet.  My sister, Debby, and I learned much from them all, and those skill gifts have given us a calm space whenever we need it.

Granny Jean was capable, organised and determined, so many turned to her for help and assistance with all sorts of situations and challenges. She was inspired to create a ‘pick-a-pocket’ dress, a full-length gown with a hooped skirt covered in rows of pockets. She would dress up in a bonnet and her dress and attend many charity events where people paid to 'pick a pocket'. I can only imagine the joy and happiness she flowed, as Gerberas do.

Purple

Hydrangeas symbolize deep understanding.

My Great Granny, Elizabeth, had a rambling garden, and it was a haven for us as children. There was a concrete patio outside her back door, next to the old coal sheds and privy, and we used to chalk hopscotch on it. We sat in and played beside a large Bramley Apple tree that gifted shade. Her front garden was full of hydrangeas, as was the border beside her patio. Behind her bungalow, the sides of the long vegetable plot were edged with fruit canes.

We loved going to Granny’s.

Purple is about creativity, wisdom, dignity, devotion, peace, and magic.

At our early childhood home, there was a Hydrangea just outside the back door. Mum often tipped the water from the washing-up bowl over it, and it thrived.

In my home, I am creating a garden. In each corner, there are hydrangeas, and yes, they are gifts from my Mum.

Purple Delphiniums are spires of lightness, levity, open hearts and attachment.

They symbolise cheerfulness and goodwill, as well as protection.

Delphiniums are used to communicate encouragement and joy, as well as to remember loved ones who have passed.

© Copyright Jane Sturgeon 2020