Christmas and this wintry season have me thinking about holidays, history and horticulture. It’s somewhat troubling to think about how far our national holidays have strayed from their original meanings, whether you consider the Coca-cola symbolism of Santa sliding down a chimney or the candy colored creation of Valentine’s Day, our holidays have lost almost all their true significance, from the corruption of harvest festivals into Halloween to the far from the Mayflower - bloat of Thanksgiving. And don’t get me started on Easter, either. What ‘peeps’ have to do with Christ’s resurrection is beyond me. These holidays were founded in the seasons and mythology, but flounder now as buying sprees from Madison Avenue.
But I digress.
In addition to the misplaced meaning of our national holidays, we have also lost a large piece of our botanical past. Within your garden lies a deeper, botanical layer of meaning and myth long forgotten, as surely as we don’t recognize the ancient Roman festival of ‘Saturnalia’, the precursor to this modern holy day. It’s fascinating to consider the hidden folklore that surround plants that we see every day. In my own small way, I’ve tried to merge these hidden histories into my efforts, in theatrical gardens and in select projects in which a client will work with me to embrace the spirit of place.
These hidden mysteries of horticulture lie under the leaf clutter of centuries, composting far from our memory. With a bit of careful investigation, I believe that we can open up a novel and new perception within landscape design and develop a fundamental understanding that will help us transcend the mundane and common knowledge of plant shape, color and placement. We malign the simple Juniperus horizontalis as commonplace, forgetting that it was discovered by Meriwether Lewisand brought to Thomas Jefferson. We roughly plant a Witch hazel without knowing that at its base, the faeries sleep in Irish mythology. Innocent daffodils remind us of spring, but are really a sign of death and rebirth. A world of history and mythic belief exists alongside our scientific botanical knowledge. Rich and steeped in magic, it informed our ancestors but we cannot hear it speak to us - of color, fragrance, healing and our past – a time when we were closer to the earth and to our gods than we are today.
A sampling of botanicals and historical belief:
Foxglove: As a “cure” for scarlet fever, foxglove leaves were placed in children’s shoes. Picking foxglove was unlucky and the plant was absolutely forbidden inside the house as this gave witches/the devil access.
Sage: This gypsy ‘toothpaste’ in the 40s and 50s was chopped sage and salt in an equal parts mix, rubbed on the teeth with Irish linen.
Boxwood: Unlucky to bring it indoors, it was said that if you ‘Bring box into the house, take a box out’ .
Daffodil: A funereal flower, Welsh families made a great effort to tidy family graves and dress them with daffodils.
Oak: It was said that when the leaves on the white oak were the size of a mouse’s ear you should plant your corn. A tree of stability, constancy and royal honor. Google “Merlin’s tree” to learn a fascinating story about an ancient oak in England.
Bayberry: Symbolizes illusions and appearances, it was believed to be useful for visions and divining.
Blackberry: This was considered by all to be the food of the faeries and it was extremely taboo to eat them within Celtic Britain.
Bluebell: These were enchanted plants and it was believed that their bells call the faeries to their midnight processions.
Elm: Is associated with shadows, darkness and depression and was used to mark off tainted areas of the countryside.
Lily: Symbolizes sorrow and is closely associated to death. It is used to symbolize danger, caution and deadly beauty.
Strawberry: Used for love spells, its symbolism is that of love, temptation, passion and rewarded effort.
Spruce: This tree represents growth, persistence, strength and endurance.
Hibiscus: Hibiscus symbolizes beauty and fertility, five-petal flowers speak of protection and its random growth that of chaos. It is used for spells involving randomness, glamour and repelling negativity.
Sources: plant-lore.com and uponreflection.co.uk
More here: https://www.google.com/search?tbm=bks&tbo=1&q=plant+lore&btnG=
As landscape designers search for deeper significance in this short-attention-span world, perhaps we can take a moment to stop this holiday season and look at the mark we are making. To be sure, we look to shape the earth and the spaces around us. We play at god in our little way, stab at a futile control of nature, in even the most native of our landscapes. But we do have a chance in our work to make more than gardens, to do something more meaningful than to simply place plant materials. We have an opportunity to inform more carefully those we come in contact with, impart deeper meaning into our projects and bring those that work with us closer to the earth and to our own past.
Feel the texture in a botanical name, learn the variegation of healing properties, study the past in a flower, find out more – and honor your plant material – by telling it’s story.
(Image: Study of Flowers by da Vinci 1452-1519)
