room
I got my set today and just wanted to say how meaningful and enjoyable I am finding the book Sheila. I love the way you've mixed poetry and literature into the book as well as some botanical knowledge about the flowers.
The Orange Flower reminded me of the television series from the UK called "The Victorian Flower Garden" with Harry Dodson and Peter Thoday. Harry worked his way up in one of the old estates to the position of head gardener and in the series they recreated the way things were done in the old days on the estate in this and their other series "The Victorian Kitchen Garden." I watched both series repeatedly while they were on TV, and the flower one had an episode where they recreated a Victorian wedding with orange flowers in the bouquet and on the bride's dress.
It has always reminded me of the beautiful scent of my mock orange shrub which flowers ebulliently every spring.
I also liked the lady on the Cactus card resting her hand on the stove! Warmth indeed.
And my other remembrance is about gillyflowers, which are spoken of in Shakespeare, but also referred to in Taylor Caldwell's book on the life of Saint Paul, "Great Lion of God." He was apparently seduced when young by a girl who wore and smelled of gillyflowers--it wasn't until years later that I knew what a gillyflower was, and I now have some in the garden.
I have heard of Jessamine but never really knew what it was so shall have fun looking it up. Oh, I also have Marvel of Peru in my garden--Four O'Clocks are one of the first flowers I ever grew--someone brought me the seeds from Italy but didn't know what they were, so they were part of my first experiences in plant identification. I am a dedicated tea drinker so also liked that card. A strange tree started growing in our garden one year, and we had no idea what it was and when it got bigger we were able to identify it as a Hawthorn (and boy is it thorny) that had self-seeded. All these things are on the cards.
Viola tricolour--what is described as wild pansy or heartsease in the book--we call Johnny Jump-ups (although some of these violas might be slightly different, but under the same name), and my first house was called Heart's Ease and that was where I first grew these smiley little flowers.
SO DELIGHTFUL a deck and companion book. When you're a gardener, a book and deck like this really hits home and becomes more precious for the associations.
Thanks to you for the book and Karen and Alex for creating this marvelous set.
The Orange Flower reminded me of the television series from the UK called "The Victorian Flower Garden" with Harry Dodson and Peter Thoday. Harry worked his way up in one of the old estates to the position of head gardener and in the series they recreated the way things were done in the old days on the estate in this and their other series "The Victorian Kitchen Garden." I watched both series repeatedly while they were on TV, and the flower one had an episode where they recreated a Victorian wedding with orange flowers in the bouquet and on the bride's dress.
It has always reminded me of the beautiful scent of my mock orange shrub which flowers ebulliently every spring.
I also liked the lady on the Cactus card resting her hand on the stove! Warmth indeed.
And my other remembrance is about gillyflowers, which are spoken of in Shakespeare, but also referred to in Taylor Caldwell's book on the life of Saint Paul, "Great Lion of God." He was apparently seduced when young by a girl who wore and smelled of gillyflowers--it wasn't until years later that I knew what a gillyflower was, and I now have some in the garden.
I have heard of Jessamine but never really knew what it was so shall have fun looking it up. Oh, I also have Marvel of Peru in my garden--Four O'Clocks are one of the first flowers I ever grew--someone brought me the seeds from Italy but didn't know what they were, so they were part of my first experiences in plant identification. I am a dedicated tea drinker so also liked that card. A strange tree started growing in our garden one year, and we had no idea what it was and when it got bigger we were able to identify it as a Hawthorn (and boy is it thorny) that had self-seeded. All these things are on the cards.
Viola tricolour--what is described as wild pansy or heartsease in the book--we call Johnny Jump-ups (although some of these violas might be slightly different, but under the same name), and my first house was called Heart's Ease and that was where I first grew these smiley little flowers.
SO DELIGHTFUL a deck and companion book. When you're a gardener, a book and deck like this really hits home and becomes more precious for the associations.
Thanks to you for the book and Karen and Alex for creating this marvelous set.
