Withering
Withering
Loves me
Loves me not
Loves me
Loves me not
I crush the fragile petals in my fingers
Loves me
Loves me not
First I pluck the almost dead ones
Defenceless
Loves me
Loves me not
I disturb the symmetry
Loves me
Loves me not
I change
Loves me
Loves me not
I strip away the beauty
Loves me
Loves me not
What’s left?
Does by meaning to something we actually are changing reality or just our perception of it?
Cut flowers. Dead Flowers.
My manager at work got flowers on Friday from one of our regular customers.
- I've been thinking about you guys a lot lately, this is for Gary, I hope he's feeling a bit better.
I heard this as she handed the flowers to my manager. Gary has leukaemia, he's been ill for years. No, he's not better.
-Oh, I saw those dead plants and thought of Gary.
I should teach my head to follow a slightly different train of thought at this stage. But I really don't like cut flowers. The moment the root is cut off - they die. We hand ourselves bouquets of dead plants. We compare the smells of dead petals. We arrange colourful bouquets of death in vases.
I like plants in their natural habitat. I am saddened by seeing trees standing alone by the streets, single roses in tiny transparent vases on restaurant tables. Where does this love of inanimate beauty come from? Is it about its transience? Its fragility? It’s poetic?
So... the pictures
I took these photos at the end of last summer in a park near our house. Every year flowers are planted in the same place for the bees to enjoy. I like this place because it's unusual for Northern Ireland - the flowers are left alone, from seed until all the flowers perish and the place turns from a colourful meadow into a wild bush. Almost no one here ever allows urban nature to grow unchecked - the lawns are always evenly trimmed, the trees planted by the roadside are enclosed with paving slabs, and the shrubs look as if there is some general rule as to how they must present themselves. You can be fined for not trimming your lawn. Yes, seriously.
Such extreme attention to aesthetics strikes me as quite amusing in a place where moss will overgrow absolutely anything that is left outside for more than a few days at a standstill. From stones to forgotten scooters on roadsides. Even the pavements are turning green. I find bits of moss growing over the seals in the car windows when I don't move my car anywhere for longer period of time.
Sometimes I think it is the moss that holds everything together - walls, houses and roads:) I think it could easily be called the fifth element of this place:)
Find time to stare
Do you like to stare? Mindlessly, unintentionally, brazenly. Staring.
I like to stare. The lack of time for staring bothers me on a daily basis. I drive to work by car(because honestly getting around Northern Ireland by any other mode of transport can only lead to mental ill health) so - I can't stare. I have to look out for traffic lights, for other road users, for the condition of the road, for speed, for engine revs. The worst is when I see something really beautiful - the sky reflected in the windows of high-rise buildings, the greening hills adorning the horizon, a pedestrian in a crazy coloured coat...
When the music from the loudspeaker relates to the passing landscapes and people. When, while waiting for the traffic lights to change, you catch someone's curious eye in the car next to you.
Small and big coincidences. Small beauties and big uglies.
I want to stare longer. To enjoy the view for minutes not seconds.
Hours not minutes.
Have a lovely rest of your Sunday!
Yours,
Strega Azure
I used Adobe Photoshop to crop and brightened few of the pictures.
Pictures has been taken 24th of August, 2023, in Belfast, Northern Ireland
Pictures are my authorship if not stated otherwise.
All rights reserved @strega.azure ©
Pictures has been taken 24th of August, 2023, in Belfast, Northern Ireland
Pictures are my authorship if not stated otherwise.
All rights reserved @strega.azure ©
All rights reserved @strega.azure ©
Bright juicy photos!
I was kind of surprised they turn out that bright, it was pretty cloudy day:)
Thank you for popping by!
The only one I really recognize is borage, but these are some lovely shots. Some of them look so alien!
The flower-giving tradition is a little weird when you think about it. I guess it comes from a good place, but when you examine it closer, it doesn't make sense to give a dying thing to a person who is unwell. Kind of like keeping a bird in a cage
Never heard borage name, and to be fair - it is the first time I've seen those flowers while doing those photos:)
So there are bluebonnets, usually in deep ink- blue colour, but you can get them in many different colours too
field poppy flower
This one is most likely Calendula
My Mum called those 'Cosmos' but proper name is 'Cosmos bipinnatus'
Nigella Damascena
Those I am certain:)
Bird in the cage - you said this perfectly:)
I know than people mean well, and it is pretty profitable business too, but... that doesn't change how I feel about them:)
Ah, thank you so much for sharing the names with me. Some of those sound familiar, but I didn't know what they look like.
It's interesting the first one is bluebonnet. Where I live, bluebonnet is a totally different flower (Lupinus texensis) 😊. Take care!
To be fair - I would say it is Cornflower(that would be equivalent of the name I know from Poland), but I 've been corrected by local :D For me it would defiantly be cornflower :)
Oh, I see, like cornflower blue. Now I can put the name to the face :)
I never thought about it this way before but it does resonate. It doesn't sound right to pluck out flowers from their source only to see them gradually wither away!
Love the variety of colors on the flowers, the orange one with four petals looks a bit familiar :)
Not that dead things can't be beautiful :) but I just find it strange nevertheless:)
Calendula(bright orange one) is pretty common flower, and it widely used for production of ointments and creams, very useful plant even after it's death:)
Right, they can also be transformed into something else and made useful in more than one way.
Let's see if I'll remember the name lol.
Yep! I very much like 'useful' plants. Aloe vera, camomile, sage or mint to name the few:)
Hi @strega.azure,
Thank you for participating in the #teamuk curated tag. We have upvoted your quality content.
For more information visit our discord https://discord.gg/8CVx2Am
Thank you:)
It is very true what you say about cut flowers. I prefer them in their natural state and habitat too. When I go out for walks I can never not take a photo of pretty blooms.
Having said that, I also understand humans' need for beauty inside their homes and I appreciate a bouquet's beauty - if only for a short, fleeting while. The few times I get a bouquet it always makes me sad to see time pass and they die, but for a while, they did brighten my days.
I hope you are doing well, it has been a while since I saw you posting. Oh, and btw - I love and miss staring as well
Happy to see you around! Thank you for popping by:)
Yep, I had little bit of brake. I should probably explain myself a bit - but I thought it will not make much of a difference:) Better just focus to find a time for posting, which is now very challenging for me:)))
I can probably somewhat empathized with need of a beauty - but then - there are plenty home - plants that can give you flowers whole year. Like Amaryllis or Peace lily - they are blooming whole year with a right treatment.
Plus - I think we need a winter in our life too - time with no flowers, just for refection and 'hibernation', so we can apricate Spring and flowers little bit more. Give ourselves time to miss them a bit:)