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 Anonymous comments will not be published.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

Too Precious to Waste

 Stitched tea bags/ old doily "tea lights" - Wilma Simmons  More than a year ago, a decision was made.  The annual exhibition of NCEATA ( Newcastle Creative Embroiderers and Textile Artists) 2015-2016 will have the theme "Mottainai". Mottainai in Japanese refers to more than just physical waste (resources). It is even used to refer to thought patterns that give rise to wasteful action. Grammatically, it can be used in Japanese as an exclamation ("mottainai!") or as an adjective phrase ("it feels mottainai"). There is no plural form. The collection of mottainai things could be called mottainai koto ( もったいない事 ? ). As an exclamation ("mottainai!") it means roughly "what a waste!" or "Don't waste." [2]  A simple English equivalent is the saying "waste not, want not." A more elaborate meaning conveys a sense of value and worthiness and may be translated as "do not destroy (or lay waste to) that ...
Post a Comment
Read more

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

Fish and Sticks : Art Dolls

This week I've been working on fish and sticks ....  The sticks are the message stick art dolls which were very popular, attracting some attention and a few orders at the Wise Women exhibition. Each of the message stick dolls are from the Wise Women series, each with her own personality and  message of wisdom, handwritten on a handmade timber tag. I gather the sticks during my walks around my neighbourhood and the tags are made from special bits of timber, some collected by me or  my husband or from off cuts gifted to us  from another doll making friend whose husband makes bagpipes. These dolls start off very simply with a wrap around a stick, in the general shape of a body. 'Naked" message stick dolls - strips of wadding wrapped around found sticks.   Then I usually wrap other layers of fabric, wool, and/or fibres, over which I do some simple embroidery. I sculpt  or mould small face masks for these dolls. I really like using "sari ribbon" as w...
3 comments
Read more