Several years ago my friend, Diane, passed away. I don't remember the year, but I remember the phone call. I was sitting in the very place I am sitting write now....in front of my computer. It was an appropriate spot as Diane was a computer whiz and she shared a lot of her knowledge with me. I feel like I am fairly computer savvy, and I attribute some of that to Diane.
Diane was one of those quietly wonderful friends. She didn't seek the limelight and when she became ill she didn't want anyone to fuss over her. I think that is why I was so distressed when she passed away. I knew she was ill, but at that time I thought she was doing 'okay,' considering the circumstances, and death did not seem so imminent. She apparently had a quick turn for the worst and her disease took her far sooner than I was ready to give her up.
But I write this post not to be sad or to dwell on those things, I write it to talk about plants and flowers and the significance they have had in my life.
I write it to show the life that is in God's glorious flora.
My friend, Susan, really touched me one night at bridge. She was the hostess and she gave each of us a small potted plant with a personalized note attached. It was around Valentine time and she said she did it in honor of Diane. I thought that was sweet and memorable and I cherished not only the plant, but especially my personalized note. I don't remember the exact words but they went something like this: 'I admire and envy the wonderful relationship you have with your daughter and it makes me strive to have a better relationship with my own daughter.'
That spoke volumes to me and I thought to myself that it is what I have always wanted in every aspect in my life....to be that 'light.'
I like to think I had a wee part to play in Susan's relationship with her daughter, because I know it improved. Her daughter got married and Susan was a great Mother of the Bride. Her daughter had a son and Susan quickly became the World's Best Grandma!
So my little potted palm (appropriately named 'The Diane plant') not only reminded me of Diane every time I looked at it, it also reminded me of Susan, her daughter, and my own sweet Madeline. And most importantly it reminded me of the importance of relationships and the preciousness of life.
After Martha died, my friends rallied around and did everything they could to help ease my hurt and pain. My bridge group gave me a potted Hibiscus tree. I love Hibiscuses and think of them as Florida's 'flower." Although the orange blossom is the official state flower of my lovely state, the hibiscus is certainly an important species around these parts! I nurtured this hibiscus and I think of my bridge friends when I look at it. It reminds me of friendship and it reminds me of life and love and all things beautiful. Sometimes it renders me speechless.
Flowers are such interesting things. They are simply one of God's creations, but like my title says 'you can say it with flowers.' It is amazing what impact they can have on life's moments....sort of like music and particular songs.
I carried yellow roses and daisies in my wedding bouquet. I have grown and matured and learned about lots of other flowers through time, but I have never ventured from my love of these two flowers. I think from the moment I realized that I was a girl and flowers were supposed to be important to my sex, I have loved daisies. I like the colors of them and the simplicity of them. I love art and drawing and painting, and one of the first things I managed to perfect in my art training was the drawing of a daisy. I loved that they were often wild and free and that you didn't have to pay a fortune for them. The yellow roses story is a bit more embarrassing. I love roses. Most females do. They are synonymous with romance and they are beautiful, delicate and they smell good. Although pink is my favorite color, I chose yellow roses for my wedding bouquet. I chose them because they matched my number one flower: daisy. I also chose them because I was totally and completely obssessed with Barbra Streisand....in particular her role in "Funny Girl." Omar Sharif gave her yellow roses and I thought that (along with the blue marble egg...which I also had) was so very romantic.
It all worked, and my wedding bouquet was lovely.
On our 10th wedding anniversary the florist arrived at our door with an arrangement of yellow roses and daises. I was touched that Jim remembered that detail and I thought they were more beautiful than ever! Talk about saying it with flowers.....
Madeline is getting married in 8 months. We have already made a lot of plans and are getting really excited about the event. One day she told me she was going to carry yellow roses and daisies in her wedding. I don't know if she really will, but the sheer fact that she even thought of it and mentioned it was enough to send my heart soaring.
Mom has never really been a flower person. She sort of doesn't fit into that female mode of expecting flowers on various occasions. However, if asked, she will tell you her favorite flower is tulip. On more than one occasion, she has been surprised with beautiful tulips. I can say that Mom drops that practicality and throws caution to the wind when she sees beautiful tulips. I know whenever Martha and I threw birthday parties for Mom that required centerpieces or some sort of flowers, we always got tulips.
I remember a time when we bought potted tulips and sort of just squished them into beautiful decorative bowls that Martha already had on her table. We then scattered moss or whatever looked okay on top of them and people oohed and ahhed over them! Little did they know that they were thrown together in moments. The important thing was that Mom loved them.
One time there was a more formal party for Mom and Homer and Martha paid a florist to create a spectacular arrangement of tulips for the dining room table. I have always cherished the photos that were made with that centerpiece. They are amazing photos and the tulips really 'spoke' to us!
This past Easter (and Mom's birthday) I had everyone over for lunch after church. Since it was Easter Sunday and Mom's birthday was the next day (and Jimmy's the following and Jim's the following), I decided to play up the Easter/Spring/Birthday theme. I bought a pink tulip in a pot with pink foil wrapped around it. I used that as a centerpiece. I simply stuck the whole pot into the Waterford punch bowl (that was Mom's and is now a fixture on my dining room table) and used that as my centerpiece. Talk about easy! The potted tulips were Mom's birthday gift. She threatens me to buy her anything, so I used this ploy disguising her gift as the centerpiece decoration. She happily took the tulips home and I felt as if I got to tell her with flowers how much I love her!I digress back to the beautiful orchid on my lanai that truly inspired me to write this. My friend Ginny and I were playing bridge one day at Anita's house. Anita keeps her house spotless and beautiful and between switching tables Ginny pointed out to me the orchid on Anita's mantle and asked me if I thought the orchid was real. This led us into a huge discussion of orchids and I think I expresed that I had never had a live orchid and I really wanted to try to raise one. Long story short, Ginny arrived on my doorstep several days later with this amazingly beautiful orchid! I honetly didn't know whether to laugh or cry. I chose to be stoic and we talked for a bit and she left. She had threatened me that I should not say 'thank you' because it wasn't necessary. I did write Ginny a note, but I never used the forbidden "thank you" words.
I just hope Ginny knows how touched I have been about her attempt to 'say it with words.' My orchid is absolutely perfect.
Recently in my bridge group I won the deuce prize. This is a prize we only do from time to time, which makes it special. It is sort of a hostess choice sort of thing. The deuce prize is when you actually take a trick with a two. All my bridge friends reading will understand, the rest will appreciate! This prize floats around from person to person and the last one to win the notorious deuce prize is the one who actually takes it home. I must say, I felt weird taking it from Susan...who took it from Anita....because I had just won the Yarborough fund the hand before. This is a cumulative fund in our group that is won when someone is dealt an honorless hand. And this means not even a 10 in your hand! Well, this particular night I had a hand with one 9 and the other 12 cards were 9 or below! I was sort of in shock as I laid my hand down. It doesn't happen often.....in fact, I won over $200 that night! It was one of the largestest funds we have seen! That is a lot of weeks and months considering 8 women (not including the subs who don't contribute) putting in one dollar per time played (which is normally twice a month).We have an orange tree in our back yard. Jim planted it many years ago. It was just a tiny thing and now it is a full fledged tree that requires attention and it does produce delicious oranges. I love it when the tree blooms....there is nothing that says 'spring is in the air' like these beautiful and fragrant orange blossoms.
One year we were hoping the oranges would be ripe when Porter was here for Thanksgiving. Porter likes oranges and we knew he would appreciate having an orange from our tree. We felt like it was a bit early for the oranges to be sweet and juicy, but they 'looked' ready. So, Jim took Porter out the orange tree and told him to pick THE orange to test. They brought it in and washed it and Jim sliced it in half. The orange had a brown, rotten center and it made a perfect design in the middle of the orange. Jim was taken aback as the orange didn't look like it would have that inside of it when it was cut open. Jim, being the teaser that he is, took an orange half in each hand, held them up on his chest, and turned around to face Porter. He got tickled and Porter started roaring and this joke has continued year after year! It doesn't take much to amuse us, sometimes. And I guess you just had to be there!
Jim has really taken to plants, flowers and gardening. He looks forward to retirement when he can have more time to 'play in the dirt.' When I was in Shelby helping Mom get ready to move, Jim surprised me by buying a lemon tree. It is in a pot on our lanai and it is flourishing. Mom and I both love lemons. The first ones we got off our tree were the best and juiciest lemons we had ever tasted! Mom was blown away by them. We are now (im)patiently waiting for the next round to ripen. The blooms on the lemon tree are not as fragrant as those on the orange tree, but the sign of those flowers says that a juicy and tasty lemon is soon to follow.
We have since added a small pink lemon tree to our collection. I love pink grapefruit, but I have never heard of a pink lemon. I am very anxious to see what the fruit will be like. The little flowers on the tree are very attractive, and like our other citrus trees, these blossoms to say a lot to us!
When I see Jim out messing with all our plants and flowers I always think of Homer. He was a true gardener and I think gardening is what brought him the most pleasure in this world. He loved to work in the yard, plant a vegetable garden and grow gorgeous flowers. The lawn on Lynhurst Lane never looked as lovely as it did during the years when Homer was out in it from sun up to sun down tending to all the flora in the yard. Mom always teased him about his car. The trunk was always filled with empty, dirty pots and there was mulch and potting spoiled spilled all in it. But, Homer truly had a green thumb!
One of my favorite Homer stories regarding his love of gardening had to do with the vegetable garden he had for many years. Mom never claimed to like to can or 'put up' fresh vegetables in any way. She just wasn't into those farm-house types of things! Homer knew this and it was never an issue. He just quietly went about his business of gardening. One day when I was visiting, Homer brought in some yummy fresh tomatoes and cucumbers from the garden for my daily tomato sandwich that I can only truly enjoy in Shelby. And he also had some squash and eggplant. When I saw the eggplant I commented to him that I didn't realize he grew eggplant in that garden. He just laughed and said he did grow it but he always had to give it away and had never tasted it. Then he continued to say: "your mother has never cooked it for me!" So, that afternoon I cooked some eggplant, squash, onions, and tomatoes for him. He was delighted and I made enough so he could freeze some and heat it up at another time!
I miss Homer and his beautiful flowers, yummy vegetables, and dry wit. He had a plaque that said: 'Old gardeners never die, they just go to seed.' I know Homer is growing something wonderful and beautiful in Heaven.
On Mom's birthday this past April, she received fresh flowers from Gene and some from Bob and Porter. They were lovely and I know she loved getting them. I don't care who you are, when you hear a knock on the door and someone is standing there to deliver flowers to you, it is a wonderful feeling!
The arrangement Bob and Porter sent looked like they were made to go in her little den where she likes to sit and read. The arrangement Gene sent matched her living room perfectly. These lovely creations brightened up her apartment for a couple of weeks.
I know she felt the intention of the love that these two flower arrangements 'said' to her.
Our next door neighbors have all sorts of beautiful roses growing in their backyard around their pool. Sometimes they cut a few and bring them over to me. I am always amazed by the unique varieties of roses that they grow and I always appreciate this neighborly sentiment. A couple of years ago most of the neighbors from our street were hanging out in our cul-de-sac on New Year's Eve. We broke out the champagne at midnight. I went into my house and got some champagne glasses for this occasion. After our midnight toast and hugs and kisses, most of us went inside to go to bed. (Staying up past midnight was a feat in itself.) My next door neighbor carried her champagne in with her and the next day she arrived on my doorstep with my champagne flute filled with water and one of the beautiful roses from her yard. I loved that simple gesture!
I will admit that these flowers known as the Christmas Star or the Christmas Flower really move me and speak to me. The previous owners of our house must have planted their old poinsettias on the side of the house. Each year they grew taller and taller and each year they turned red around Christmas time. We have a picture of Madeline standing in front of these poinsettias and it looks like a full backdrop surrounding her and extending far above the top of her head. She was about 12 or 13 years old when we took the photograph. Unfortunately, we lost these poinsettias a few years ago when we had an unusual and terrible frost one winter.
The poinsettias that we used for decoration this past Christmas are out on our lanai. They still have some red on them, but they are about to turn all the way green. They are quite healthy and I look forward to them coming around so that we can use them as decoration again this Christmas.
Jim has a way of keeping these types of plants and flowers alive and in fact, he has a way of bringing the plants and flowers that I think I have killed back to life! I just put them on the side of the house and I never know when they may reappear as a beautiful and thriving plant. We have a tomato plant that is now producing and it is one of the ones that I thought for sure was dead.
We have some impatiens in our yard that were ones I killed, and they are now huge 'bushes' that are almost up to my waist and as wide as my arm span! I think Homer must have rubbed off on Jim somehow.
I laugh about this when I think of our friends Dick and Anita. They live in a townhouse and when you approach their front porch there is a brick walkway that Anita always has lined with plants or flowers. She says Dick calls it their plant hospice because it is where Anita sends plants to die. I know that sounds a bit irreverent, but it is not intended that way. It is really that age old joke that so many people feel about their green thumbs. It's like they have the 'curse' when it comes to plants. It's almost as if they know when they buy them that they are going to kill them. I like to call the side of our house The Plant Hospital where Jim is the physician in charge!
My cousin, Ellen, recently wrote a post on her wall on Facebook that said her gardenias were blooming and she'd be drunk if their fragrance was wine! I do believe the smell of fresh gardenias blooming is one of the most heavenly smells in the world. Those flowers know how to talk with not only their beauty, but also with their fragrance.
Sally likes hydrangeas and she has beautiful ones in her yard in Shelby. She also recently posted something on Facebook about the hydrangeas. They are such a unique and beautiful flower. I remember that my sister loved hydrangeas, and she always comes to mind when I see them or read about them. God certainly knew how to expound on beauty with all the different flowers He created.
My cat, Leo, loves flowers. It amuses us! He is a great cat and we try to keep him off of furniture and counters. He will jump up on the counter if we have a vase of fresh flowers on it! He doesn't jump up for anything that you would think a cat would be interested in. We finally figured out that wherever there are fresh flowers, Leo will find them and 'visit' them. I guess he is attracted to the beauty and fragrances just as we are. Sometimes I think Leo has a little bit of 'human' in him!
I was thinking about how significant flowers are to so many moments in our lives. They can be simple moments such as our kids picking a little wildflower or weed and running in to bring it to us. They are usually overcome with excitement and we become suddenly overjoyed with love. Tell me this isn't 'saying it with flowers?'
People send flowers to you when you are sick or in the hospital. I guess at these times when you are just feeling down, what better way to cheer you up than to receive flowers? Often an illness or operation prevents you from being able to eat what you want, so food isn't a good way to cheer you up. You might be tired or groggy so reading or watching tv might not be the best way to forget your pain or discomfort. But flowers. Now what better way to say "get well soon?"
When someone dies, it is a tradition to send flowers to the survivors' homes or to the church or funeral parlor. These flowers are just a small symbol of sympathy towards the loved ones. It is often such a sad and perhaps awkward time and people are often at a loss of words. So why not just show your love and concern and say "I'm sorry" with flowers?
We are in the midst of wedding planning so of course, flowers are on our list of to-dos. Although Madeline doesn't want tons of flowers for her wedding, she wants some flowers and the bridal bouquets are of importance to her. We are in the midst of looking for florists and trying to decide what to do in the way of flowers. Madeline has something to 'say' about her wedding and what it means, and the proper choice of flowers to go with everything else she has planned is another important aspect.
With Madeline being a dancer and with us being involved in theater, we have been the recipient of many bouquets of flowers that say to us 'brava!' or 'break a leg.' This act of saying it with flowers is a long time tradition in the dance world and the theater world.
There are so many flowers in this universe and so much beauty within them. It is hard to see flowers and not be moved by them whether they be wildflowers along a busy highway or beautiful roses carefully arranged in a bridal bouquet. We can see a wreath of flowers lovingly placed on the grave of a loved one or an arrangement of flowers on the center of a Thanksgiving table and feel the sorrow or the joy that accompanies them. There can be a rosebud on the altar at church signifying the birth of a baby or a basket of freshly cut daisies just waiting to be arranged in a vase. There can be a wilted plant awaiting some TLC from a caring gardener or a blooming tree waiting to bear juicy fruit to be enjoyed. There are roadside stands selling fresh flowers grown by local farmers and gardeners and there are fancy florists waiting to help you create the perfect bouquet to send to your sweetheart. There are so many times in our lives when we can truly say it with flowers.
And memories are made of this.
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| Thanks, Madeline, for the amazing Amarylis. I missed you too while you were living in Philly! |
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| Say it with flower magnets made from coquina shells |
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| Philadelphia in the springtime |
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| Say it with flowers in paintings (by me) |
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| (by me) |
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| (by me) |
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| (by me) |
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| (by Phyllis) |
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| Old Philly church and beautiful wildflowers (painting inspiration.....?) |
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| Break a Leg! |
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| Congratulations on your amazing Senior Show ("Grown Ups") from Mom and Eric BRAVA! |
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| There's a little creature hiding in my African violet pot! |
Say It With Flowers!
