Category: LOVE
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STRAWBERRY
THE FOLKLORE OF PLANTS: Strawberry Lisa Karen Miller “Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful.” William Morris At his countryside home in Oxfordshire, England, William Morris often observed thrushes stealing the strawberries from his kitchen garden. The 19th century…
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PANSY
THE FOLKLORE OF PLANTS: Pansy Lisa Karen Miller Shakespeare knew his flowers, and he knew that his audiences would understand their references in his plays. The word pansy derives from the French penser, to think. Thus, in Hamlet, Ophelia is right when she says, “And there is pansies –…
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LOVE IN A MIST
THE FOLKLORE OF PLANTS: Love in a Mist Lisa Karen Miller Love in a Mist, Nigella, or black cumin, is an old-fashioned cottage garden flower and an ancient medicinal herb. Its double ruffle of sky-blue petals and feathery foliage make it a lovely addition to any sunny border, especially…
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LOVE LIES BLEEDING
THE FOLKLORE OF PLANTS: Love Lies Bleeding Lisa Karen Miller “And love lies bleeding in my hand Oh it kills me to think of you with another man.” Elton John Long before Elton John immortalized the name of this beautiful flower in song, the Victorians claimed it stood for…
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LILY OF THE VALLEY
THE FOLKLORE OF PLANTS: Lily of the Valley Lisa Karen Miller My favorite description of any plant, ever, comes from Perennials, Maggie Oster’s excellent reference book: “This is one of the easiest plants to grow, providing a quickly spreading groundcover for shade. Growth is considered rampant only by those…
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CACAO
THE FOLKLORE OF PLANTS: Cacao Lisa Karen Miller “Love, n. A temporary insanity curable by marriage or by the removal of the patient from the influences under which he incurred the disorder.” Ambrose Bierce, The Devil’s Dictionary Terrible old cynic, was our Mr. Bierce. Believing chocolate…
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BLEEDING HEART
THE FOLKLORE OF PLANTS: Bleeding Heart Lisa Karen Miller In 1846, English botanist Robert Fortune was sent to China by the Royal Horticultural Society to “find” some floral treasures. Armed with pistols, shotguns, trowels, and a Chinese dictionary, he had to disguise himself as a Chinese person to infiltrate…
Folklore of Plants 