Of Things Botanical

photo credit: b.e. hobbs

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To go on an outing to look for birds is called, "Birding." What would you call going for a walk to look at wildflowers? Petaling? I love to petal. In the July, 2002 issue of National Geographic, there is a spread on flowers and how they changed the planet. The photos, of course, were rapturous and I particularly liked this quote by Michael Klesius:

"Flowering plants have conquered more than just the land. They have sent roots deep into our minds and hearts. We know we are passing through their world as through a museum, for they were here long before we arrived and may remain long after we are gone."

Walking on York Avenue today, I spotted a Dayflower. That's what it's called in the North Carolina mountains. The intense blue orchid-like bloom rivals any painting. Folk accounts have it that the flower only blooms for a day; hence the name. A lesson in being mindful of time passing? I tested the theory. I took a sprig on the principle that the patch of ground it was in was full of crabgrass and dandelions, so I didn't think I was harming the environment. I once was going to do a book of flower poems when I discovered that most of the plants (like Solomon Seal and Burdock) on the land at the Zionville cabin were used medicinally by the Cherokee encamped there long ago. I thought a little book of healing flowers would make a nice bedside extra next to echinacea and a box of tissues for winter grippe. However, as in most things Gemini, I got sidetracked. When I saw the Dayflower tenaciously surviving in the biggest of big cities, I decided to find the old Field's guide to wildflowers (on the net, of course,) and think about that project once more. However, I've noticed when I'm given an idea by the Universe that if I don't act on it, the idea is given to someone else, sometimes by me, who does spectacularly well with its completion. I've come to think of this as my role in life, the catalyst's role. I fully expect, therefore, one of you will publish this little book in my stead. I hope you will include a Dayflower and perhaps a packet of wildflower seeds on the inside cover. Who among my poet e-mailers will it be? Harriet, Carolyn, Rosamund,Billie Lu, Karen, Randy, John, Daffolet, Cheryl, B.E., Micah, Jessica, or an Unknown Reader Yet to Be? I await with interest your replies.

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...may the blessings of armchair botany, of Figwort and Trillium in high mountain meadows, be yours...