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Monday, January 3, 2011

Book of Days and the Language of Flowers!





In a similar theme as yesterday, here is another favorite Book of Days called China Bayles' Book of Days from Susan Wittig Albert and China Bayles.  January 3rd is talking about the language of flowers made very popular in the 1800's by the Victorians.  I got some language of flower books for Christmas from The Herbal Husband.  Here is my favorite of those.  It's dated 1847 and is called Flora's Album.  I love the dianthus print in the front.

A modern version of  Flora's Dictionary is by my dear friend, Kathleen Gips and can be ordered in time for Valentine's Day or any other special occasion from her Village Herb Shop in Chagrin Falls, Ohio.  This last photo is of a tussie mussie that I made for my best friend's mom's 90th birthday.  I love to do tussie mussies for friends' birthdays and when I go visiting in the hospital.

I'm very excited about an upcoming exhibit at the Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation starting in March (I think).  It will be about the language of flowers exploring the powerful symbolic and unspoken meanings of flowers in recent centuries.  Got to read up on my history, etc so I'm ready!  Here is the quote of the day from China Bayles' Book of Days from William Shakespeare in Richard II:

Here in this place I'll set a bank of rue,
sour herb of grace;
Rue, even for ruth, shall shortly here be seen. . .

Rue means pity, compassion, mercy, as well as for repentance and remorse.  Rue only means a skin rash for me!  Well, off to run errands.  Hope you are having a great day wherever you may be.  Talk to you later.
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4 comments:

  1. PatJanuary 4, 2011 at 12:21 AM

    Curious - I am some renegade rue that popped up last summer next to my very healthy tarragon. I pulled the rue out and relocated it...have heard it is sometimes not friendly with other herbs. Have you had any experience with this? I think rue is quite pretty and the bluish green hue is nice to have.

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  2. PatJanuary 4, 2011 at 12:24 AM

    back again - I meant to type "I had a renegade rue..." - don't think I AM one...LOL!

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  3. Lemon Verbena LadyJanuary 4, 2011 at 12:23 PM

    I would never think of you TO as a renegade rue! LOL! I have an answer for you. See my next post for details!

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  4. seanymphJanuary 6, 2011 at 7:37 PM

    I have China Bayles book of days too and love it. I found Susan on an herb site on Yahoo yrs ago and thats how I learned about her books. And now I have her on FB too. :)

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Thank you for visiting my herb garden and leaving questions or comments for me to reflect upon or answer.

Lemon Verbena Lady