quote flowers

"For myself, I like having flowers to smell when I walk in the garden, flowers to cut for the house, flowers to share with friends. Having these in abundance proves the methods of my madness to be working well, and well worthwhile."
- Susan Urshel

quote flowers

'Thanks to the human heart by which we live,

Thanks to its tenderness, its joys, and fears,

To me the meanest flower that blows can give

Thoughts that do often lie too deep for tears."

- William Wordsworth

quote flowers

"I think the reason that Grandma's garden is so well remembered is that children were allowed to pick as many flowers as they needed, for there was nothing rare or choice in the flower beds: petunias, four o'clocks, roses - the more they were picked, the better they bloomed."
- Elizabeth Lawrence

quote

"Flowers sweeten the air,
rejoice the eye,
link you with nature
and innocence
and are something to love.

If they cannot
love you in return,
they cannot
utter hateful words
even if neglected; for
though they are all beauty
they possess no vanity; and
living as they do
to do you good
and afford you pleasure
how can you neglect them!"
- Leigh Hunt

quote

"Nobody sees a flower, really - it is so small - we haven't time, and to see takes time, like to have a friend takes time."

- Georgia O'Keefe

Flowers

This from the program from our 1996 Herb Symposium:

Lessons in Flowers

Flowers are one of the few non-controversial things in life.
But they are certainly great teachers. They nourish our sensibilities, quicken our wonder over Nature's magnificence and variety.
They prove to us, above all, that there is a power that defies mortal impatience, rebuffs willfulness, induces serenity in a world that is largely aimless bedlam.
The best way to realize this, of course, is to grow them as well as buy them.
Even the posture required is healthily humbling, for most of a gardener's work is done upon his knees; hoping with love and reverence that what he does will be approved by the Master who rules the sun, the earth and air.
If he has faithfully followed His law, the result will be something human lives should resemble: a transitory and fragile existence under the compulsion of time, but leaving an unforgettable perfume, color and form to its successors.

Look closely

Inspiration is closer than you think...
"A flower is relatively small. Everyone has many associations with a flower - the idea of flowers. You put out your hand to touch the flowers - lean forward to smell it - maybe touch it with your lips almost without thinking - or give it to someone to please them. Still - in a way - nobody sees a flower - really - it is so small - we haven't time - and to see takes time like to have a friend takes time. If I could paint the flower exactly as I see it no one would see what I see because I would paint it small like the flower is small.
So I said to myself - I'll paint what I see - what the flower is to me but I'll paint it big and they will be surprised into taking time to look at it."
-- About Myself, by Georgia O'Keeffe, 1939