In search of paradise (A Bird of Paradise, that is)
© iStock/Waltkopp

Flowers Around the World—the Scary, the Exotic, and the Reassuring

Spring came . . . just as promised through the ages. Not even a global pandemic could stop the natural rhythms of the earth. (This story begins like an ancient myth, doesn’t it?)

The clenched tree buds exploded into gentle leaves of green almost overnight. Flowers bloomed everywhere around the world making the words “riot of color” less of a cliché because the description was so true.

A celebration of spring—poppies in the Paris Jardin des Plantes
© Mavis Negroni

We welcomed the renewal/rebirth metaphor of spring, especially in this time of corona. The change in seasons was one small way to gauge the strange time warp that had enveloped the world during sheltering-in-place/confinement/lockdown.

But we all knew the truth. The celebration of spring would have to be different this year. Many of us could not leave our houses. Many could travel only within a small radius of home. And, in most cases, our favorite public gardens were locked up tight. What’s a lover of spring to do?

The elegant White Egret Flower (Habenaria radiata) seems to take flight.
(From Japan and East Asia)
© iStock/Magicflute002

A Journey for a Virtual Traveler

To put myself in the mood, I started a virtual tour of spring by searching for exotic flowers around the world.

Why not search for flowers that stretch the imagination? Yikes!
(The Monkey Orchid, Dracula saulii)
© iStock/Beatrice Sirinuntananon

The Ballerina Orchid (caladenia melanema from Australia) is an elegant addition to the world
of exotic flora (and a little less “Little Shop of Horrors” than the Monkey Orchid.)
© iStock/Beatrice Sirinuntananon

From Central and South America to the Mediterranean to the Far East, these unique flowers are works of art, although some were clearly transforming themselves into creatures from a Star Wars bar scene, heroines from fairytales, or dancers from vivid lockdown dreams.

Wildflowers (Calceolaria uniflora) from South America. Do they belong
in a Star Wars bar or on stage, starring in a modern version of MacBeth?
© iStock/Gerhard Saueracker

Had I been in “confinement” for too many days? Were exotic flowers mutating into alien beings before my Netflix-weary eyes?

An alien or a flower—you be the judge.
(The Darth Vadar flower from Central and South America.)
© iStock/Gyro

The good news: I wasn’t alone in imagining the anthropomorphic qualities of these blooms. Others had seen the same qualities (and not even during lockdown).

Does everyone see a naked man here (or is it just me)?
(Orchis italica, otherwise known as The Naked Man Orchid)
© iStock/Carlos Pérez Romero

The names were clues and something to cling to on the edge of sheltering insanity. Still, these images had the potential of continuing to enter my dreams, so it was time to experience whatever part of spring I could bring to my limited world.

Is this a costumed bee on an orchid or the strange totality of the Laughing Bumble Bee Orchid?
(Ophrys bombyliflora from the Mediterranean.)
© iStock/Andi Edwards

The Real Flowers in Our Lives

As loyal OIC Moments’ readers might know, the past two blog stories have celebrated a connection to nature, no matter the circumstances. (See Recovering Our Awe of Nature and We’ll Always Have Paris.)

Following suit, we now move past scary lockdown dreams of monkey orchids and happy aliens to this spring’s reassuring flowers and gardens.

Discovering a private world of nature during lockdown
© vjonesphoto

People around the world rose to the challenge of seeking refuge in their own gardens or discovering nature wherever they happened to be sheltering. For some, like Virginia Jones in Alabama, going out to photograph the emergence of spring was “a welcome and safe way” to raise her spirits.

For Carol Starr in Maryland, who had a bit more freedom to wander, several gardens were within reach—the annual cherry blossoms at the Tidal Basin, the towpath of the C&O Canal, and several open gardens.

A celebration of spring in Maryland
© Carol Starr

She was able to visit week after week to see the progression of blooms. She even brought nature to a blank page for all to see in her subsequent paintings, proving that there are many ways to share the beauty of spring.

Spring arrives by inviting creativity.
© Carol Starr

For Pamela Spurdon in the center of Paris, there were no woodside paths or formal gardens. Her world was more limited due to the strict confinement rules in France. But she connected to nature every day. She thanks the “awesome azalea that greeted me every single morning of the confinement: irrepressible joy of spring!”

The awesome azalea
© Pamela Spurdon

Gardeners Now and Forever

For those who are gardeners at heart, the connection with nature is a given, especially when there is a magical garden in the yard.

Three garden lovers on the Monterey Peninsula of California share a similar reflective theme during their shelter-in-place order.

Lynn Bohnen calls her garden “her savior” and explains that there is nowhere else she’d rather be during the stay-at-home order.

“I can’t feel my fingertips because I’m constantly digging with them; but to me, it’s pure joy,” she says. “It’s a very positive thing when you have time to reflect about what is really wonderful in this world and what really gives you great joy.”

Discovering what gives you joy
© Lynn Bohnen

Janelle Gistelli shares that same feeling of peace. “During this time of anxiety and stress, my garden has given me a place to “just be.” I can escape into the smallest details as I do my daily puttering and grooming, while I listen to the birds and wind chimes. My garden has been my solace during this time.”

Magic in one’s own backyard—a place to “just be.”
© Janelle Gistelli

Elizabeth Murray (author of several garden/creativity books) adds “My garden is a sanctuary of renewal, beauty, and joy. With the gift of slowing down I am also blooming with creativity, especially when I am fully present to draw and paint my garden.

Drawing and painting in a garden sanctuary
© Elizabeth Murray

Elizabeth has been making folding books and drawing flowers from her garden during this corona time as a way to be focused during the pandemic. Through Instagram and Facebook, she has introduced the idea to artists and garden lovers around the world.

The creativity of a folding book
© Elizabeth Murray

Generosity of Spirit

Every spring, Robin in Oregon gives away homegrown vegetable plants to her neighbors to get their summer gardens started. This year was no different, except that her friends couldn’t come to her house for pickup and there were no in-person chats.

Vegetable plants ready for spring delivery
© Robin Koontz

She had to deliver the plants to the road’s edge at a safe distance from each neighbor’s house. The reward in these challenging times, she says, was “knowing that we all would have a garden to tend to help keep us sane and healthy.”

Beth in Cambridge, Massachusetts inherited a truckload of daffodils as spring was emerging. She decided to brighten the day of all her neighbors by putting the flowers on the street and offering them to anyone who needed a smile of spring.

Generosity does, indeed, brighten the day.
© Beth Pendery

The Art of Celebrating Spring

Most of us missed our usual spring rituals, but nature prevailed. For many, the change in focus inspired a renewal/rebirth of creativity.

Mavis Negroni was not able to walk through her favorite Paris park this spring—the Jardins des Plantes.However she vividly remembers its beauty and the fact that it is “a frenzy of color and light in three seasons of the year.” We can feel that appreciation in her creative expression during this confinement.

A spring collage, perhaps inspired by the Jardins des Plantes
© Mavis Negroni

“I love visiting the tiny water features when the frogs mate and the tadpoles and dragonflies arrive,” she says. “I love the banter of crows and parrots, the shreiks of children, the stream of joggers, and the tai chi and fan classes.”

Donna Leiber, from Southern California, also shared a vivid corona tale in the form of a single rose, which she describes as a piece that shows both freedom and constraint.

Beauty in aloneness and strength in self-reliance
© Donna J. Leiber

“She needs no companions to be complete, keeps intruders at a safe distance with her thorns, and weathers many storms no matter how fragile and delicate,” Donna says of her rose.  “I painted her during these surreal COVID-19 pandemic times to remind us that there can be beauty in aloneness and strength in self-reliance.”

Yes, spring came . . . just as promised. Not even a global pandemic could stop the natural rhythms of the earth.

Oh, I see. We shared a celebration of spring, inspired by flowers around the world. And, just like the single strong rose, we will weather the corona storm.

Comment on this post below, or inspire insight with your own OIC Moment here.