Skip to main content

Christmas Countdown Local 2022 #23 and #24 Flowers



#23 : Flowers ... It doesn't seem like Christmas in our garden until the first of the  Corymbia ficifolia ( eucalyptus) flowers bloom. To me these beautiful gum blossoms  just say " Christmas in Australia" 
Petunias

In the garden, other red flowers bloom like geraniums and petunia  which is such a summer favourite that it is easy to associate it with Christmas. During a storm earlier in the year, we lost our iconic NSW Christmas bush.  We miss having this flowering at this time of the year in our garden, but a friend gave me a huge bunch of NSW Christmas Bush from her garden. It really wouldn't be Christmas without Christmas Bush!  

NSW Christmas Bush 



Corymbia ficicolia - red flowering gum 

An all time festive favourite is the poinsettia, which I have in the house in a pot... I always think of poinsettia as the flower on Christmas cards! 

Poinsettia



#24 : Less popular Christmas flowers.  Oriental lilies are more likely to be chosen for weddings than for Christmas. However, I read that oriental lilies are associated with the Virgin Mary, as a symbol of purity and rebirth.  These seem a very appropriate flower to decorate the house during Christmas. 


This year, Chinese forget-met-nots are growing beautifully in our garden.... I wondered if  they would have any connection to Christmas ? Blue  Forget- me-nots  are associated with Peace, healing, growth, development, intelligence, power, and communication.. My immediate response was yes - they are a flower of peace.  Traditional forget-me- nots are symbols of love and remembrance.  I think my hope that  I could find  the link between the festive season was that they merely bloom in Spring/  Summer. 
Cynoglossum amabile - Chinese forget me not 

  I think  these little blue flowers will have a place at Christmas , just because they will help me remember loved ones no longer with us at Christmas. There is always room for more flowers at Christmas.... but ... 
 Those  bold red blooms of poinsettia, Christmas Bush and flowering gum  will  remain "Christmas "  favourites for me. 
 

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Thanks for reading my blog and please share your thoughts about my blog post by leaving a comment.Your comment won't appear immediately as comments are verified before publication in an effort to reduce the amount of spam appearing. Anonymous comments will not be published.

Popular posts from this blog

Countdown to Christmas 20 - Fruitcake song!

There are many songs about fruit cakes  - not all of them referring to the Christmas cake we know and love.It is really surprising to learn via Google that there are 89 listed songs with references to Christmas cake or fruit cake - not all of them complimentary.   Probably one of the most famous folk songs about Christmas cake is Miss Fogarty's  Christmas Cake (a favourite sung by The Irish Rovers).  This first recorded comical Christmas song was written by C Frank Horn in 1883 in Pennsylania, as a variation of an Irish folk song, 'Miss Mulligan's Christmas Cake' . The chorus might give you the hint that Miss Fogarty's cake was not for the faint hearted or those who suffered from a weak stomach.    Chorus : There were plums and prunes and cherries, There were citrons and raisins and cinnamon, too There was nutmeg, cloves and berries And a crust that was nailed on with glue There were caraway seeds in abundance Such that...
Post a Comment
Read more

Christmas Countdown 15 : Christmas Tree #11 - Disposable

Plastic cups  https://littlebinsforlittlehands.com/christmas-stem-ideas-kids/ Advent Blog : Day 11 - Disposable  We are all so much more conscious about ridding our landfills and oceans of plastic waste. For Christmas, here is a way to use up some of those disposable items which seem to multiply at holiday parties and celebrations, or perhaps you have just been saving them up for a creative use.... Who would have thought coffee pods would make such stylish Christmas trees ? ... Add caption If you don't have one of those machines, then perhaps you have coffee on the run - Starbucks or Nescafe ?  from  https://www.pinterest.com.au/pin/369858188126737920/ Nescafe cups https://www.pinterest.com.au/pin/72761350208620530/ The disposable cups don' t have to be brand names to work well as materials for Christmas trees. Taking an engineering approach to plastic cup trees seems to be the answer for a more ornate result.  from  https:...
1 comment
Read more

Christmas Firsts #11: Penguins

This year, I fell into the sentimental trap of making some penguin softies for Christmas .... and I am not the only one - penguins seem to be everywhere at the moment dressed in Christmassy costumes, with trees, bells, and all kinds of Christmas paraphernalia.   Should penguins really  be associated with Christmas?   Probably not  and not as Santa's helpers as they often depicted. Penguins inhabit the Antarctic region in the South Pole, while Santa Claus it has been established has his home in the North Pole. The theory is that somehow penguins are associated with snow, then Winter, then Christmas, but what about us in the southern hemisphere. Perhaps they are just cute?  Whatever the reason, when were penguins first seen as part of the Christmas scene ?  While there is no verifiable answer, it would seem that Monty the Penguin in the John Lewis Christmas advertisement in 2014  popularised  the trend. (If you are not famil...
Post a Comment
Read more