“I don’t buy my wife flowers. She just likes photos of flowers. Saves me money.” – overheard in a greenhouse filled with orchids in Chiang Mai, Thailand. published on December 21, 2019. Photos courtesy of Kristina Anderson.
In their expressive beauty, flowers connect us to the natural world. But let’s take that idea a step further. Flowers that appear naturally in a particular place, at a particular season, can help us make a connection to that place and time; the same is true for leaves, seedpods, and branches. Collecting botanicals directly from …
What is the reason for flowers? Why do they exist, in all their beauty, color, and fragrance? Poets and philosophers could give us many reasons. But science offers a concrete, definitive answer: flowers evolved in order to attract pollinators—mainly insects, including bees. Yes, flowers and bees go way back. Flowers provide bees with nectar, and …
Working with kiddos on the spectrum is a challenge in itself, and figuring out their interpretation of things is a must on the job. A way to understand their perception of the world is to encourage them to draw- what better things to draw than flowers? Drawing is often a mindless activity, one that we …
Aww, soothing the mind. Imagine this: the scent of gardenias. What is more tranquil than inhaling this sweet floral, silky aroma? Nothing! And kiddos with Autism Spectrum Disorder will agree. I have been working with kiddos on all different levels of the spectrum for over a year now. It is no surprise that one remedy …
Before we get into Persian ice cream, I just want to talk about why it’s important to do so, and why the “Taste” section of this publication holds so much potential, and is so dear to me. The appreciation of flowers in Europe and North America revolves and has revolved primarily around aesthetic value. People …
While the rose might enjoy the most numerous and prominent associations with the Christian religion, the lily-of-the-valley also bears singular significance in Christianity. And like the rose, the lily-of-the-valley is connected most strongly with (Catholic) Christianity’s two central figures—Jesus Christ and the Virgin Mary. The lily-of-the-valley, or Convallaria majalis, demonstrates that fatal combination of beauty …
You have, no doubt, seen a peculiar floral symbol in all manner of places with no apparent explanation or context. It graces the high and the low alike, from the heraldic crests of Europe’s ancient families and Old-World castles of immense wealth and opulence to the humble kitchen wallpaper. I’m speaking about the fleur-de-lis, otherwise …
Purple Saxifrage a.k.a. Saxifraga oppositifolia has been around since at least the last ice age. Known as the northernmost wildflower on Earth as it’s found on the northernmost piece of land on Earth, Kaffeklubben Island, it can survive extremely cold environments periodically lacking in sunlight, lacking in water when everything is frozen over, and with …
Recently in Thailand on June 21 to 23, the village of Ton Pao, located in Chiang Mai province, held a festival called “Amazing Lanna Saa Paper Festival” promoting local handmade paper production and handicrafts. Our correspondent in Thailand, with camera in tow, braved the sweltering heat to attend the festival in search of handicrafts made …