From the chapter entitled "The Gift of Strawberries" from the book "Braiding Sweetgrass" by Robin Wall Kimmerer she writes that she was a "girl raised by strawberries". Dr. Kimmerer went on to explain that she had heard the environmentalist and Chief of Arctic Village Evon Peter introduce himself as "a boy who was raised by a river." Pondering what that meant, that he had learned all that he needed to know about life living on its banks, that the river fed his mind, body and soul she deduced that for her it was fields of strawberries that had "fed" her in her youth. Strawberries had given her a sense of her place in the world. In her Potawatomi indigenous culture strawberries are a part of their Creation stories and are known as heart berries, ode min, a gift. Kimmerer goes on to write, "a gift comes to you through no action of your own, free, having moved toward you without your beckoning...your only role is to be open-eyed and present." I remember reading her words and knowing immediately that I had been 'a girl raised by flowers.'
There was a story for me as well. When I was four years old my beloved Swedish Grandfather took me by the hand and led me out to his garden, it was his pride and joy, his bliss. Being a scientist, three kinds of engineer and inventor, it was laid out with mathematical precision and order, yet it was contained wildness. Long white benches were positioned in such a way that one could sit and find themselves immersed in the beauty of his flowers. In the apple and pear orchard one could sit beneath the trees surrounded in a swirling cloud of white blossoms caught on the breeze. Making ones way through the Asparagus patch was like traversing a lush and dense jungle. It was magical. On this particular day though he wanted to introduce me to the Iris. I was captivated by their beauty. It was love at first sight. These were the large, ruffled, bearded Iris, their heads much bigger than my small hands and they were as tall as I was and they were every color of the rainbow.
Grandpa and I sat down on a bench and he told me a story, a Greek mythological story, about how Iris flowers came to be. How the Goddess Iris with her golden wings would drive her chariot across the sky forming rainbows and where the rainbow met the Earth Iris flowers grew. A rainbow had surely touched Grandpa's garden I thought and I was filled with wonder, my heart forever touched.
And there it began, the seed had been planted. I could say that from that day forth I was aware of flowers but rather I would have to say that they made themselves known to me. It was as if they called to me to come and spend time with them, Be with them. Lilacs invited me to rest and dream beneath their lush foliage in their cool shady hollows. I'd lie on my back and look up through their branches and blooms at the blue sky surrounded in a cloud of their heavenly scent. They gave me great comfort as a young teenager. Dandelions and Buttercups were always in my hair or in chains around my neck. I'd visit the wild honeysuckle in the woods by the creek and just lose myself in their aroma. Ageratum, those fuzzy little blue flowers of summer I adored and would sit with them in the garden and pet them. I was most certainly a girl that was raised by flowers.
I was following in grandfathers shoes planning on becoming an engineer, building things was in my genes, but then I got my first after school job in a florist and fell in love. It’s still in a sense building something just the components are different and alive...and they smell wonderful! Becoming a florist seemed to be predestined. My career took me from New England to California to Texas and back and now to Ohio. From being a floral designer to wedding consultant to a florist manager, I've adorned homes to hotels to store windows, created florals for conventions and galas, for movie and rock stars, to a former President, and have been a charity designer of Christmas trees and I have loved every step of my career. Discovering regional meanings of flowers and traditions has added depth to my designs and in every new place I have lived the first book I buy is always a wildflower guide of the area.
About twenty-five some odd years ago now I started a freelance floral and wedding business in Southern California and began arranging flowers symbolically. Symbols have long been another passion of mine. Around the world and for centuries flowers have been used to honor, celebrate, mourn and decorate homes and people; myths and folklore abound from antiquity. Each ethnic group has their own floral folklore, superstitions and magical beliefs as well as traditional crafts made from flowers, trees, grains and herbs. Being a professional florist for forty years now I have been fortunate to experience many different and rich cultural and religious floral traditions, some that read like stories. It is my wish to share those here as well. And since I love to cook and bake with flowers there may be an odd recipe or two here and there.
In Victorian England (1837-1901) the Language of Flowers, also known as Floriography, became all the rage with tussie mussies, small nosegays of fresh flowers that were carefully arranged to carry special messages from the giver. For instance, pink carnations meant “I’ll never forget you”; and daffodils “the sun shines when I’m with you! But the messages were not always romantic, they could also be used to say “goodbye” for example with Cyclamen flowers or “I’m jealous” with the gifting of yellow Hyacinth. It gives new meaning to "saying it with flowers." Victorian society had a strict code of morality and acceptable behaviors thus being able to send messages secreted amongst the blooms of a bouquet became popular. Before that Floriography was popular in England in the early 1700s when introduced by Lady Mary Wortley Montagu and in the Swedish court 1727 introduced by Aubrey de La Mottraye. Lady Montagu who spent time in Istanbul with her ambassador husband wrote about Selam an Ottoman secret language of passing messages through flowers between harem courtesans and their lovers. Quite a few floral dictionaries were soon being published. The Victorians were "flower crazy" in fact and the search for and appropriation of rare plants and flowers, Orchids especially, became big business. Many of the large nursery businesses of the time including the Veitch Nurseries employed plant explorers who searched the globe for rarities and became famous in their own right such as the Lobb brothers and Ernest Wilson.
Flora Sophia, the wisdom of flowers, is the resulting blossom of my lifetime passion for flowers, my love of nature and our Mother the Earth, and my personal search for truth and wisdom. My designs all incorporate the meanings of flowers and are created during mindful and meditative practice. I create wall Mandalas- floral art that may be used as a meditation tool or to simply enjoy for the beauty of the elements incorporated and the energy of the design. I make tussie mussie bouquets to gift to loved ones that are created with particular energies for wellness, love and friendship; arrangements of peace and beauty to decorate the home; hand wired wheat stars to bless the home; and meaningful bouquets for weddings, and more.
With the launch of Flora Sophia my hope is to share my passion for flowers, symbolism, beauty and the Earth. To ask that you reach out on an energetic level to the other sentient beings on this planet within the natural world that we share this Earth with for they have much to teach and share with us. They are living, breathing beings just as we are and are deserving of respect. If you truly love some thing you will nurture, nourish and protect it with all your heart. Let our continued relationship with the natural world be one of respect, attention and love for the Earth in its entirety as it is truly our "Garden of Eden".
Thank you for walking down the garden path with me....
Noel
