#june flowers

[flowerishness]

Magnolia sieboldii subsp. sieboldii (Korean mountain magnolia)

This early summer flowering magnolia is a late bloomer compared to most of the ornamental magnolias in my neighborhood. The petals open to reveal this amazing structure with a yellowish pistil and pinkish, light-purple stamens. This is a mountain plant and can survive temperatures as low as -30 Celsius (-22 F), far hardier than your typical magnolia. The southern magnolia, Magnolia Grandiflora, is the state flower of Mississippi and likes it hot and moist, whereas this species, Magnolia sieboldii is the national flower of North Korea. Why, I bet old Kim Il Sung himself had one growing in his back garden.

[floral-art-prints]

AB297 An Arrangement of June Flowers by Albert Williams (Undated, oil on canvas)

[sixminutestoriesblog]

rose

Barbara Allen was buried in the old church yard,

Sweet William was buried beside her.

Out of Sweet William's heart grew a red, red rose,

Out of Barbry Allen's, a briar.

They grew and grew in the olde church yard,

Til they could grown no higher.

At the end they formed a true lover's knot,

and the Rose grew 'round the Briar.

It seems almost silly to talk about roses and superstition or symbolism given how steeped the general public already is in it. I like to blame that on Valentine's Day, one of the rare things I can't decide if that makes it a bonus or not. Roses have become the go-to flower for all occasions, but never more so than when it comes to romance. There's even a long running dating show where the focus of the season picks their potential love interests by handing them a single rose a piece. I say 'roses' and, at least in most of the western world, anyone would respond 'love'.

Except gardeners who seem more inclined to use the word 'cantankerous'.

Roses aren't just for love though. Like most things, if you dig deep enough backward into their past, you'll find roots that spread deep and dark as well.

So let's talk about the myth and superstition around roses.

If you've been reading this blog, you won't be surprised to find that roses were associated with death just as much as they were with love (not because this blog is about death but because just about everything seems to be associated with death if you go digging). What might surprise you is that roses and death go as far back as the Iliad at least. After Hector was killed, Achilles attempted to desecrate his body, and thereby damn him in the afterlife, by dragging the corpse behind his chariot and then leaving it out to rot. Aphrodite, for all her faults, anointed Hector's body with rose oil to ensure that there would be no decay until he was given a proper funeral. Rose oil, and petals, were common in funerals but it was probably the Romans who took it to excess. Roses for them were protective, keeping the dead safe from evil spirits as well as being offerings to the dead themselves, a potent mourning symbol. The celebration Rosaria (or Rosalia) was known as the Festival of Roses and was a time when the graves, and ghosts, of their ancestors were honored. And here's where it gets interesting. Because the Roman military often made sacrifices before marching off and roses, and violets, could be a part of that. The significance of those two flowers together were based on several things, not the least of which were their colors. The colors of blood and rot. Perhaps, one could speculate, the red of a rose has always stood for the preciousness of heart's blood - and the purpose of sacrificing that varies depending on who you're giving it to, and what outcome you're hoping for.

Roses weren't just good for funerals though. The Romans also had a saying 'sub rosa' which means 'beneath the rose'. The idea behind it was that, with all its thorns and tangled branches, beneath a rose bush was a very good place to hide a secret. Its interesting to find that, that too, has passed along with the rose as a symbol. Cupid gave a rose to Harpocrates, the (kinda) god of silence, in exchange for keeping his mother's affairs a secret. Sleeping Beauty is locked in a tower or castle that's guarded by a thorny briar rose forest. Many Catholic confessional booths used to have rose carvings on them and there are still some rooms in older buildings with a rose painted on the ceiling. The Jacobite rebellion in Scotland took a white rose as its symbol. 'Sub rosa' is still used to this day when implying something is confidential.

Let's go a bit lighter now.

Did you know in France, one story has briar roses created by a failed attempt of the Devil to make a ladder to get him back into heaven?

Did you know that the word rosary comes from the word rosarium, which means crown or garland of roses?

The book The Romance of the Rose, written in the 1200s, has some very saucy puns when it comes to roses and women.

If a young girl wraps a rose in a piece of clean white paper on Midsummer's Eve, and its still intact by Christmas day, she can wear it in her buttonhole and the first man to compliment her on it will be her future husband.

Rose leaves touching the floor (leaves, not petals, your weddings are safe) brings bad luck but throwing the leaves into a fire brings good luck.

Cleopatra was rumored to have filled the floor of her bedroom two feet deep with rose petals to impress Mark Anthony.

And lastly, don't sneeze too hard while holding a single rose. If all the petals fall off it and you're left holding only the stem, its a sign of bad things to come (and probably of hay fever).

“I once had a rose named after me and I was very flattered. But I was not pleased to read the description in the catalogue: no good in a bed, but fine up against a wall.” Eleanor Roosevelt

Does anyone know any Asian or Middle Eastern lore about roses? I was disappointed my sources didn't seem to have any. I'd love to hear them if you do!

[georgiemusson]

[pers-books]

Happy June! May your June bloom!

Lupins

Foxgloves

Heleniums

Jasmine Tobacco

Verbascums

Orange Daylily

[oracle-fae]

lamblittle

[flowerytale]

"Blooming June" or "Flowers of Hypnos", from Andrea Zanatelli’s embroidery series

[cutiesigh]

❤️🖤🩷

Wuthering Waves has taken over all of my free time recently, so here's a sketch of Scar!Ren I originally shared in da 14DWY Discord!!

[geopsych]

St Johnswort before sunrise.

[thoselovelythings]

[cgclarkphoto]

2022 in review, one of my favorite shots from each month beginning with Robert Frost for January and then clock wise around the border, the middle shot is my favorite shot in 2022. -  cg photography

[rinibayphoto]

[rherlotshadow]

Flowers at the corner of a barley field

[georgiemusson]

[kerovousphoto]

Alstroemeria

[theellipelli]

planning for the future