Flower power

Gather ye rosebuds while ye may,

Old times is still a flying.

And this same flower that smiles today,

Tomorrow will be dying.

O fairest flower, no sooner blown but blasted,

Soft silken primrose fading timelessly. (Robeert Herrick)

Flowers are an eternal source of joy and happiness. Their petals reflect the soft feeling of heart. They are Nature’s pouring for her beloved. The green leaves promise a support and togetherness with selfless motive, an ingredient for a happy life. The fragrance of flowers is a depiction of a natural way of making someone happy while remaining silent.

Of course, the king of flowers is the ‘rose’— a cupid-struck heart will embrace the red rose. A ‘yellow one’ would extend a hand of friendship to new friends while a ‘white one’ is a symbol of truce. In fact, every rose is God’s autograph.

He has inscribed his thoughts in these marvelous hieroglyphics which sense and science have, these many thousand years, been seeking to understand.

She’s somewhere in the sunlight strong

her tears are in the failing rain,

she calls me in the wind’s soft song

 and with the flowers she comes again.

‘Flowers are God’s thoughts of beauty taking form to gladden mortal gaze.’ God smiled and ha! We had flowers!! Flowers are the sweetest things that God ever made and forgot to put a soul into. What would be this world without flowers? It would be a face without a smile; a feast without a welcome.

‘It is a common to feel that to cultivate a garden of flowers is to walk with God’, says Bovee. Further, flowers are  also  associated with ‘moral qualities’. It is said  that bright colours are associated with glossy aspects of life, which may turn out to be poisonous ones  but the nectar of a flower stands for ‘goodness’ which every human ‘bee’ should try to collect.

Thus, flowers are living preachers as quoted by Horace ‘your voiceless lips, O, flowers are living preachers — each leaf a book’. Then comes the healing effect of flowers. A bouquet of roses and lilies speak of a get-well soon prayer to the ailing. It is the passion of flower that is the only thing left untouched by long sickness and its chilling influence.

Fair daffodils

we weep to see you haste away so soon

as yet the early rising sun

has not attained his noon.

According to English mythology, the Muse- Euterpe, the Goddess of music is sitting on a heap of flowers, a thing which is far better to enjoy than to attempt to understand. Flowers are so endearing to us that we get immense pleasure in calling our dear ones as flowers.

But these delicate stars also reveal the saddest thoughts that ever occurred to the human mind and it is reflected as:

One thing is certain and the rest is lies;

The flower that once has blown for ever dies.

Flowers  are ‘the stars  of the earth’, are they not? As soon as the summer cools off and the winter breeze begins  cajoling through this part of the world the natural tapestry comes alive with vivid colours. The landscape is splashed with the bright colours of dahlias, marigolds, sunflowers, roses and chrysanthemums.

There is a mythological story that LOVE once went to FLORA, the goddess of flowers, to take the BEST FLOWER from her garden. Flora offered him the red rose that encapsulates the fleeting passion of romance, the sensuousness of youth. But LOVE refused to take the rose and instead asked for the flower that could reflect the grace of a person too. For love needs purity and serenity for its consummation.

FLORA offered a white lily to LOVE but again, to her utter surprise, it too was not accepted by LOVE, saying that it lacked the exuberant feeling of love. After great thought, FLORA mixed the red colour, passion and fragrance of the rose with the grace, and upwardly gait and serenity of  the lily, and  formed the LOTUS, a perfect combination of rose and lily. From time immortal, the  lotus has been the symbol of Indian culture and ethos.

Saraswati, the goddess of knowledge, Vishnu and Lakshmi all adore the lotus, symbolizing ‘passion’ with purity.

No doubt, the instinct and universal taste of mankind selects flowers for expression of its finest sympathies, making them the most fitting symbols of those delicate sentiments for which language seems almost too gross a medium.

Yes, it is not surprising a fact that flowers talk louder than words. People show their love and care through garlands of various flowers.

Another wonder flower is ‘the rhododendron’ which is said to fill every heart with beautiful feelings. There is a legend associated with it.

Once, an old man of the valley sent his daughter to a nearby village at the spring to a young man with whom he wanted to marry his daughter but the girl refused. So next year again, the father sent her to the young boy’s village, which was surrounded by rhododendron trees in full bloom. The lively colour of those scarlet flowers touched the woman’s sensitive heart and she fell in love with the young man and agreed to marry him.

In the Kumaon and Garhwal regions, a festival of flowers called ‘Phool Sanskriti’ is celebrated on the Hindu new year day in the month of Chaitra. On that auspicious day children decorate the thresholds of all the houses in their village and worship them with rhododendron flower offerings.

In his famous novel, ‘Shesher Kobita’ (the last poem) Rabindranath Tagore wrote in their praise:-

‘Clusters of rhododendron flowers

 on upright branches

proudly disregard

‘the red colours of the morning clouds’.

‘Rhodonendron’ is a Greek word combining ‘Rhodos’ and  ‘dendron’ meaning  ‘rose’ and ‘tree’, or flowers like the roses  growing on trees.

This flower is very important as its extract is believed to have blood-purifying and cooling effects. A tonic made of these flowers is said to slow down the ageing process. A strong decoction of its leaves is helpful in curing rheumatism, gout and nervous sciatica.

Even ‘shurbuts’, ‘chutneys’ and ‘curries’  are prepared from these  sour flower petals. The red juice extracted after crushing its petals is used in folk painting.

Essential flower oils recommended for various skin problems:

Skincare (General): Lavender, rose, rosemary camphor, rosewood, geranium.

Acne: Tea tree, lavender, spike lavender, rose, geranium, grapefruit, sandalwood, mints, basil, rosewood.

Dry acne: Lavender, spike lavender.

Astringent: Grapefruit, yarrow, rosemary and lime distilled.

Cleansing: Sweet basil, juniper, lemon, lemongrass, peppermint.

Dry: Carrot seed, cedar wood, jasmine, lavender, orange, rose.

Pimples: Tea tree, lemon myrtle, German Chamomile, rosemary.

Black-heads: Coriander, peppermint, lemongrass.

Scars: Carrot seeds, lavender, petit grain.

Wrinkles: Carrot seeds, fennel, rose, lavender.

Flower oils that ease unpleasant emotions:

To ease:                            Try:

Aggression:              Juniper, lemon, marjoram, rosemary.

Anger:                       Chamomile, jasmine, rose, rosemary.

Anxiety:                    Chamomile, lavender, orange, sandalwood.

Disappointment:     Jasmine, orange, rose.

Fear:                          Fennel, ginger, sandalwood.

Jealousy:                  Jasmine, rose.

Loneliness:             Benzoin, marjoram.

Fatigue:                   Basil, coriander, ginger, jasmine, juniper, orange, peppermint, rosemary.

Nervousness:         Coriander, orange.