The beauty of nature

I haven't been blogging much lately. Maybe I should start again. What topic should I choose? Here's one: the beauty of nature. 

Nature is beautiful, and we should thank God for it. 

Jesus told us to consider the lilies:  Luke 12:27 Consider the lilies, how they grow. They don’t toil, neither do they spin; yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.

He didn't say that Solomon was not gloriously arrayed. But He did say that lilies (and other flowers) were and are, and He implied that we humans are never going to surpass the beauty of nature.

I need to speak of God's work in nature more often.

Thanks for reading.

The Language of Flowers, by Vanessa Diffenbaugh

I recently read The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh. This is the publisher's web site for the book. Here's the Amazon page on the book, which includes an interview with the author. This was her first novel. It is well written, and shows extensive thought and research.

As usual, I try not to give away much of the plot. Trust me, there is one, although the book is more about relationships than plot surprises. It's really more about relationships, especially about relationships between foster children and those who interact with them, than about flowers.

The concept of Language of Flowers, or floriography, refers to the use of flowers as signals, whether they are displayed or given as gifts. The Wikipedia has an article on the subject. The author has appended a long appendix at the end of the book on such usage. Samples: Wheat (Triticum) - Prosperity; Strawberry (Fragaria) - Perfection; Violet (Viola) - Modest Worth; Raspberry (Rubus) - Remorse. It would be possible to suppose that flowers really have some sort of magical powers, but, in an appendix, Diffenbaugh specifically denies that flowers have magical powers. She does say that researchers have found some effects, however: "A study from Rutgers University shows that flowers increase feelings of enjoyment and satisfaction, and Harvard researchers found that people feel less anxious and more compassionate in the presence of flowers." There are a lot of wedding flowers sold in the book.

The author, in her first novel, uses flashbacks extensively. It works.

Although there is a lot about reconciliation in the book, the characters seem to have no religious, or church experiences. In one place, the protagonist, Victoria Jones, says ". . . I didn't know how to pray."

The book was well worth reading. I expect Diffenbaugh will do more good work.

Deadheading flowers: musings

I'm going to muse about the topic of deadheading. Read on, if you wish.

My wife has a flower garden. She has a number of flowering plants in it. Generally, it's beautiful, especially when there are several flowers of various types showing themselves.

One practice that she has adopted (and I help with, or do) is deadheading. We cut off, or pull off, flowers that are past their peak, in hope that that plant will produce new flowers, more than it would have otherwise produced. My wife also thinks that removing flowers that have withered, or turned into fruits, makes the flower garden more beautiful. Many flower gardeners agree.

Scientists, and gardeners, have discovered that some kinds of plants will, indeed, produce more flowers if deadheaded, but that some won't.

Why does deadheading work? I have done a little searching, and not come up with a clear answer. My guess is that the flowering heads of some plants send chemical signals back to parts of the plant below them, which signals inhibit further flowering. When the flowering head is removed, the plant causes new flowers to develop. This would be similar to the way in which auxin, perhaps the best-understood plant hormone, inhibits the growth of parts of the plant below terminal buds, a phenomenon known as apical dominance. Most small trees have numerous buds along their stems, but only some of them grow into twigs and branches, and, generally, those buds that do have to be some distance from the terminal bud at the tip of the stem. This effect of auxin is a major influence on the way some plants are shaped as they grow. Apparently, such systems are not found in all types of plants, for flowering, but, probably, they are in some plants.

We don't know everything. One reason that we don't know as much as we would like to about flowering is that scientists still have not clearly identified the flowering hormone, or hormones. (Florigen is the name for such hypothesized hormones.) Not for lack of trying. A chemical called Flowering Locus T, or FT, is likely to be one of the flowering hormones, but almost certainly, there are several, with different roles in the flowering process.

Why is flowering important? Why should taxpayer dollars be spent on research on flowering? There are good answers. Flowers are beautiful. We should preserve and honor beauty for its own sake, and because it is part of the way God's goodness is expressed in the world. Also, flowers are a commercial product, so people make their living from them. A great deal of the food we eat would not exist without flowers. Think of the citrus fruits, of the Rose family (apples, strawberries, pears, peaches, almonds, and many more) of melons of all kinds, of squashes, of beans, peas, peanuts and their relatives, of tomatoes and peppers, to name a few.* Most of us can recognize some of these plants by their flowers, which are often quite prominent. We eat the fruit of these plants, which wouldn't exist without their flowers. (To botanist, a fruit is a ripened flower part, so that we eat bean fruit, even though it's commonly called a vegetable.) The more we can learn about flowering, the more likely we are to be able to continue to feed ourselves well.

Two lessons from deadheading
While deadheading recently, it occurred to me that I often forget the beauty of the flowers around me, in full bloom, while I look for the withered and less beautiful ones. That's a mistake! Similarly, I should concentrate on the good in my life, and put the bad, what little there is, in its proper place.

Jesus didn't speak of deadheading, but He did mention pruning, in a passage in John 15. I need to have the rotten, messy stuff taken out of me -- the parts that are unlike Christ. Why? So that, as my life resembles His more and more, I can bring help in the conversion and discipling of new Christ-followers, and so I can manifest the fruit of the Spirit.

Thanks for reading. Go and deadhead some plants, or seek pruning from God.


*The most important food plants are members of the grass family, corn or maize, rice and wheat. I'm not sure if the same flowering hormones that work on, say, roses, work on grasses, or not. I've never heard of deadheading such plants!

Almond flowers in the Bible: Do you know what they look like?

petals forward
Originally uploaded by curiouskiwi.

Exodus 37:17 He also made the lampstand of pure gold. He made the lampstand of hammered work. Its base, its stem, its cups, its calyxes, and its flowers were of one piece with it. 18 And there were six branches going out of its sides, three branches of the lampstand out of one side of it and three branches of the lampstand out of the other side of it; 19 three cups made like almond blossoms, each with calyx and flower, on one branch, and three cups made like almond blossoms, each with calyx and flower, on the other branch—so for the six branches going out of the lampstand. 20 And on the lampstand itself were four cups made like almond blossoms, with their calyxes and flowers, 21 and a calyx of one piece with it under each pair of the six branches going out of it. 22 Their calyxes and their branches were of one piece with it. The whole of it was a single piece of hammered work of pure gold. (ESV)

I was reading this recently, and realized that I didn't have a clue as to what almond flowers looked like. So I searched Flickr for photos. I found a lot of them. One was by curiouskiwi (who, as the name suggests, lives in New Zealand). I had had corresponded with her before, and seen her contributions in the help forum, so I asked her permission to use the photo above, which she graciously gave. (For some reason, her title doesn't show up. It is "petals forward.") You should be able to see as many of her photos as you want through the link given.

The English Standard Version of the Bible allows quotation in blog use, if referenced as I have done, in case anyone wonders.

Many of you will recognize the resemblance between the almond flower above, and apple, cherry, blackberry, and other members of the Rose Family of flowers. Members of this family have petals in fives, or multiples thereof, and the petals are separate from each other.

The calyx of a flower is the sepals, taken collectively. Sepals are usually green, and are usually outside the petals. There are five of them in almond flowers, and they are shorter than mature petals. If you look closely, you can see one or two of them between the petals of the flower above. (Clicking on the photo above should lead you to a larger version of the photo, if you are interested.)

There are a few other references to almonds in the Bible. The most notable is Numbers 17, which tells the story of Aaron's rod, which miraculously budded and bore fruit, signifying God's choice of Moses and Aaron for leadership.

This is one of an occasional series, based on my daily reading from the ESV Bible. The most recent post is here.

Thanks for reading, and thanks again to curiouskiwi and the ESV, also to an anonymous reader for a correction. Any blame or liability accruing to this post is mine, not theirs.