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For my birthday at the end of August I recieved this lovely bouquet of flowers - "all the way from Scotland"... Even if of course the actual bouquet was put together by a florist here in Borås, Sweden. I was quite impressed that they had managed to incorporate flowers to actually remind me of Scotland, though: Thistles (which I recall is the national flower of Scotland) + something resembling heather. (Having done a bit of research now, I think they probably aren't heather though, but some sort of sea lavender.)
The bouquet seemed to remain totally unchanged for about 1½ week! (I just changed the water in the vase a couple of times.) But then the carnations and chrysanthemum started to fade a bit; and I decided to break up the bouquet. The 'heather' and thistles felt like they had just dried, so I hung those upside down to dry some more for another 1½ week. Two twigs of green leaves still looked just the same, so I put those back in water in a different vase. They still look the same after three weeks!
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Google Image Search identifies these as Ruscus hypophyllum - "a species of shrub in the family Asparagaceae". According to some forums they may remain unchanged for weeks, in water; while other people have apparently managed to get them to grow roots. I guess I'll just have to leave them and see what happens!
The dried thistles and whatever-it-is I have now put in a vase without water, on the shelf by a coastal landscape painted by my friend Lena N; an original water colour of hers which I bought when visiting her exhibition in Smögen on the west coast of Sweden a couple of years ago.
No-one is truly sure of how the thistle came to be Scotland’s national flower. A well-known story though attributes the thistle being chosen as the emblem of Scotland to the Battle of Largs (a coastal town in Ayrshire) in the 13th century. A Norse army journeyed to Scotland, intent on conquering the land. The legend has it that they left their ships under cover of night, and were planning to ambush the sleeping Scottish Clansmen. In order to be as quiet as possible, the Norsemen had removed their shoes. However as they crept across the countryside, one of them stepped onto a thorny thistle. His cry of pain roused the Scots, and the warriors rose up and defeated the invaders.
https://www.nts.org.uk/stories/the-thistle-scotlands-national-flower
I love this legend!!! Such a unique bouquet. Do you know what the flower is that has prickly leaves and a deep blue center, in the first photo?
ReplyDeleteGinny, those are blue thistles. The ones we normally think of are perhaps more purple or pink, but the ones in this bouquet were blue. (The colour less intense when dried.) If there is a special name for them, I don't know it.
DeleteGreat bouquet and story of the thistle. I even have found walking within a field of heather is prickly. Love the dry arrangement in the ceramic vase!!
ReplyDeleteThanks Barbara. That vase leaks so is only good for dry flowers! :)
DeleteBoth beautiful in the moment and full of history and symbolism that lingers long after the bouquet itself
ReplyDeleteRo, yes, I was happy to find that some of the flowers could be dried and thus kept longer :)
DeleteWhat a wonderful birthday gift! It‘s still giving you (and us) pleasure weeks later. When my mother-in-law in Ripon was still fit enough to do most of her housework herself, I regularly sent her bouquets, and I hope they brought her as much joy as this one brought you. Now she‘s 91 and can‘t handle filling big vases with water and keeping a bouquet beautiful very well anymore, so we have stopped that.
ReplyDeleteMeike, it's very rarely through my life that I've received "professional" bouquets like this, so when it does happen it always feels like a luxury.
DeleteBeautiful bouquet! I like the legend of the Thistle and had never heard it before. It would be so nice if it were true.
ReplyDeleteJanice, I suspect the authenticity of the legend is not all easy to prove after 800 years... ;)
DeleteWhat a beautiful bouquet - and it's still giving pleasure.
ReplyDeleteCarol, I'm hoping the dried flowers will last at least through the winter!
Deleteloving those flowers, I think it's called sea holly aka eryngium (spelling could be wrong) and I have never been able to grow them.
ReplyDeleteThanks Amy! So it's not actually a thistle then, even though it resembles one! Well... I'd still not advise anyone to try and walk barefoot among these either... (referring to the legend about the Scottish thistles quoted in my post!) Looked it up in Wikipedia now and its full name is Eryngium maritimum; and yes, also called sea holly. Rare in Scotland now but common further south along the coasts of Wales, England and Ireland.
Deletethe entire bouquet is just gorgeous! and I like it even more broken up into other vases and the thistles are my favorites. great story about them, take that invaders. ha ha
ReplyDeletetruly a lovely gift that you can enjoy for months
Thanks Sandra. I was happy to find that some of the flowers could be dried, and am still curious as to how long those green leaves will stay fresh :)
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