Flowers are some of the most symbolic elements in nature. Who can help but love them? Who can help but be shocked by the freely-given grace of their wild beauty, and gladdened by this generous, fleeting gift of color on tender, slender stems. Flowers are alms for the soul.
“The earth laughs in flowers.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
We are almost spoiled to the beauty of flowers. By late summer, they can become like colorful blotches on wallpaper: fuzzy in detail, barely worth noticing. But in spring, each new flower that appears in the garden, the meadow, or the grass along the sidewalk is a sign of the earth returning to her full fertile power, and it is blessed. Every small posy with delicate, vein-brushed petals is magic, a gorgeous signal of life.
The first wild-flower of the year is like land after the sea. – Thomas Wentworth Higginson
Flowers are given to mothers on the birth of their child, to couples at their wedding, and to the dead at their grave. Throughout life’s milestones and celebrations, we offer this gift from nature that can’t be spent or used. We offer flowers to say, “I love you. This is beautiful. I want you to see it. Because I love you.”
“I must have flowers, always, and always.” – Claude Monet
I write this now preparing to head south for vacation. My garden is still blanketed in snow. The white upon white, sparkling and blinding snow is beautiful in its own right, and a wonderful impetus to practice hygge. But the flowers of spring, when they come, are a welcome sign of new life, warmth, beauty, and the generosity of the earth.
