My A-Z posts this year
are based on my garden – flowers, animals, the birds and the bees, butterflies
- with a bit of poetry thrown in. For some letters I am expecting to cheat
somewhat – wishing they were here.
Please note that I have been/still am ill. Also I have had a computer failure that has not yet been resolved completely causing me to post late. I have been unable to reply to comments and to visit other A- Z participants for the past week. Will do my best to catch up as soon as I can; please accept my apologies in the meantime.
Please note that I have been/still am ill. Also I have had a computer failure that has not yet been resolved completely causing me to post late. I have been unable to reply to comments and to visit other A- Z participants for the past week. Will do my best to catch up as soon as I can; please accept my apologies in the meantime.
P – Passion Flower, Pheasant, Petunia, Peacock, Peony
Lay down on your
pillow
And turn the lights
down low
Let me take you to
the garden
Where the passion
flower grows.
 |
| Passion Flower |
Roman Catholic priests (late 1500's) named it for the Passion (suffering and death) of Jesus
Christ. The parts of the plant symbolised features of the Passion. The flower's
petals and sepals represented the apostles who remained faithful to Jesus
throughout the Passion. The circle of hair-like rays above the petals suggested
the crown of thorns that Jesus wore the day he died.
Each day since late February, when it’s just light enough to see, we
have heard, not the crowing of a cockerel, but the call of one of these
magnificent birds:-
 |
| Cock Pheasant (on Tresco) |
Gilded with
leaf-thick paint; a steady
Eye fixed like a ruby
rock;
Across the cidrous
banks of autumn
Swaggers the stamping
pheasant-cock.
At different times during the day it takes a stroll around
two or three gardens before it returns to shelter under the bushes next door.
 |
| Cock Pheasant crossing drive next door |
When it comes to flowers there are so many beginning with a ‘P,’
so I have to be careful which ones I choose to show.
These have been successful in the border and in tubs.
 |
| Petunias |
There is no chance for any one of them to claim, "I'm a lonely little petunia in an onion patch," (see video link)
Butterflies take a fancy to them too, but the Buddleia bush is a particular favourite for some.
 |
| Peacock Butterflies |
Issa, a Japanese poet, is said to have written up to 20,000 haiku, with around 84 about the peony, a
flower which has a reputation for bringing prosperity:
 |
| Peonies |
The god of fortune
and luck dwells here
a peony
Poems:
- Where the Passion Flower Grows – Charles M Moore
- Cock-Pheasant – Laurie Lee
- Peony – Issa; Japanese peony haiku
Photos/Video
- I’m a lonely little Petunia in an Onion Patch – Youtube video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J7nO9n6Ez64
