“Flowers are love’s truest language.” 
Park Benjamin

On this page I would like to offer you some wisdom others have gleaned from flowers and share some of my own thoughts about these lovely beings. First, I believe flowers transmit a very high energy vibration, bestowing an invisible blessing on those in their presence. I have felt this many times, and have been mysteriously moved to tears in their presence. I believe God speaks through all his creations, but flowers transmit His message with a purity and power that sometimes stuns.  I think  Eckart Tolle comes close to explaining the phenomenon when he writes “… flowers are the enlightenment of plants.”   

When we surround ourselves with high vibrations of any kind, beautiful music, a sunset, an embrace of unconditional love, our own spirit soars.  It is on the spiritual plane that flowers communicate with us.  Whether we are tuned into this wave length or not, we still receive their blessing.  Tuning in just augments the experience, whether through working directly with them  or just admiring them in a garden or even a photograph.

The best part of my day is drinking my first cup of coffee while gazing into the garden to see what’s going on.  The morning light has a soft, filtered quality about it.   When I see the sun shining on or through a flower in a certain way, I grab my camera and run out.  There I lose track of time crouching and lying on the ground exploring through the eyes of my camera’s lens.  The combination of the flower’s beauty illuminated by the light bowls me over.  Words can’t describe the visual delight! 

Lydia M. Child speaks for me, too, when she writes, “Flowers have spoken to me more than I can tell in written words.  They are the hieroglyphics of angels, loved by all men for the beauty of their character, though few can decipher even fragments of their meaning.”

One fragment of their meaning is certainly joy.  Perhaps only a baby’s smile communicates as much unadulterated joy as a sun-kissed flower.  In addition to joy, flowers speak to me of innocence, beauty, peace, wisdom, strength, endurance, transformation, and surrender. Flowers model a way of being we humans would do well to emulate.   Matthew 6:28 reminds us of our God given perfection using the example of a flower, “And why take ye thought for raiment?  Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow, they toil not, neither do they spin.”  EckartTolle, author of A New Earth, believes that flowers are “Messengers from another realm.”  I believe they are too, and further, I believe just looking upon them is healing to our soul at some deep level.  Tolle explains the flower phenomenon this way, “An innocence, or sweetness and beauty that are not of this world still shine through them.”

That flowers hint of God’s presence is understood by all of us - consciously or unconsciously.  Flowers are universally incorporated into all of life’s most sacred rituals: birth, baptism, weddings, and funerals. We offer flowers as a symbol of our love, sympathy, appreciation, and devotion.   When we fall in love, we send flowers to speak for our heart.  When a friend is down and hurting, we send flowers to cheer them up.  When a loved one is hospitalized we send flowers to help them heal. When we’ve injured another, we send flowers to apologize.  When we languish during long winters, we buy ourselves a bouquet of flowers to give us hope and remind us of the promise of spring.   Some people, like me, put flowers on the grocery list all year round, for as the Koran says, “Bread feeds the body, indeed, but flowers feed the soul.”   Following are some more of my favorite quotes about flowers, each suggesting some special virtue or gift they offer us.

“Because God is Beauty, He created loveliness in flowers that they might speak of Him.  More than anything else in nature they hint at His presence.”  Paramahansa Yogananda

“Earth   laughs in flowers.”  Ralph Waldo Emerson

“The temple bell stops but I still hear the sound coming from the flowers.” Basho

“The morning-glory at my window satisfies me more than the metaphysics of books.”  Walt Whitman

“He who is born with a silver spoon in his  mouth is generally considered a fortunate person, but his good fortune is small compared to that of the happy mortal who enters this world with a passion for flowers in his soul. “  Celia Thaxter

If you want to be happy for a day, get married.
If you want to be happy for a week, roast a pig.
If you want to be happy for a lifetime, be a gardener.    Chinese proverb

“Just living is not enough….One must have sunshine, freedom and a little flower.”  Hans Christian Anderson

“The violets in the mountains have broken the rocks.”  Tennessee Williams

“If seeds in the black earth can turn into such beautiful roses, what might not the heart of man become in its long journey toward the stars?”  G.K. Chesterton

“Flowers seem intended for the solace of ordinary humanity.”  John Ruskin

“Can we conceive what humanity would be if it did not know the flowers?”  Maurice Maeterlinck

“People from another planet without flowers would think we must be mad with joy the whole time to have such things about us.”  Iris Murdock

I confess when spring comes and the flowers return from their long absence, I do become mad with joy.  That’s when I grab my camera again and try to capture the essence of their beauty so I can prolong the joy I feel,  and  share it with others through flower photos, prints and cards.   I hope these photos  help you feel the beauty and joy of flowers and experience their healing message from another realm.  Flowers have much to teach us.    Buddha  says,  “If we could see the miracle of a little flower clearly, our whole life would change.”