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space. As a species we continue to grow and change, to come up with new ways to communicate and new things to say. We call instead of knocking on doors, or text if we are too nervous to call. If we are uncertain about what we want to say, we can double-check facts on a screen or get a second opinion from an ever-present social network. But has any of this helped us to communicate more effectively? Are any of our technological methods of declaring love more meaningful than a single orange tulip in a blue glass vase, growing taller in the direction of the light? Is anything more perfect than a banana-leaf boat full of flowers floating down a river to express our devotion to the divine? Is anything more useful than a bed of bright orange marigolds to help us find our way home?

We plant, we nurture, we grow and we give, different flowers for different moments in time, but all for the same purpose: to say that which cannot be said, and to say it with beauty and with grace.

Vanessa Diffenbaugh

FIFTY FEATURED FLOWERS

anemone basil camellia

Canterbury bells carnation chamomile

cherry blossom chrysanthemum cypress

daffodil dahlia daisy eglantine

forget-me-not geranium hazel heliotrope

holly hyacinth iris ivy larkspur

lavender lilac lily lily of the valley

marigold mignonette mistletoe moss

myrtle nasturtium orange blossom orchid

pansy passionflower peppermint periwinkle

poppy rose rosemary snowdrop

sunflower thistle tulip verbena violet

wallflower water lily weeping willow

ANEMONE

Forsaken

These beautiful, fragile flowers come from the Near East and the Mediterranean, and were first brought to Britain at the end of the sixteenth century. In Greece, anemones carpet the hillsides and olive groves in springtime with their brilliant red, white, pink and purple blooms. Their name comes from the Greek anemos, meaning ‘the wind’, because their delicate flowers appear to open in a gentle breeze, but are so short-lived, like a breath of wind.

The anemone has come to be associated with the story of the lovers Aphrodite and Adonis. Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love, was besotted with this beautiful youth, but he was fatally wounded by a wild boar and died in her arms. She sprinkled nectar on his blood, from which sprang the vivid red anemone. Abandonment, and love that is fleeting and will not last, are symbolized by this flower.

COME HARRIET! SWEET IS THE HOUR

Come Harriet! sweet is the hour,

Soft Zephyrs breathe gently around,

The anemone’s night-boding flower,

Has sunk its pale head on the ground.

’Tis thus the world’s keenness hath torn,

Some mild heart that expands to its blast,

’Tis thus that the wretched forlorn,

Sinks poor and neglected at last. –

The world with its keenness and woe,

Has no charms or attraction for me,

Its unkindness with grief has laid low,

The heart which is faithful to thee.

The high trees that wave past the moon,

As I walk in their umbrage with you,

All declare I must part with you soon,

All bid you a tender adieu! –

Then Harriet! dearest, farewell,

You and I, love, may ne’er meet again;

These woods and these meadows can tell

How soft and how sweet was the strain.–

PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY

WRITTEN IN 1810 FOR HIS FIRST WIFE, HARRIET WESTBROOK

A small vase of anemones makes an appearance in William Holman Hunt’s 1853 painting The Awakening Conscience. Hunt’s subject is that of a young gentleman visiting his mistress in the house in which he has installed her. She is sitting with him at the piano when she is suddenly stricken with remorse and rises from his lap. The room is full of objects symbolic of her predicament, including a cat that has caught a bird under the table, a sheet of music of Thomas Moore’s ‘Oft in the Stilly Night’ – a song about former innocence and present despair – and the anemones in the vase on the piano, which hint that the affair will not last and can only end in sorrow.

BASIL

Hate

It was the Ancient Greeks who first associated basil with that fierce emotion and the misfortune that swiftly follows on. They saw in the