Druid Circles!

Long Meg and Her Daughters

Long Meg and her Daughters (also called Maughanby Circle) near Penrith is the third largest British stone circle after Stonehenge and Castlerigg. Like its Cumbrian neighbor, it has legendary associations with the alleged petrification of sinners, who are turned to stone for various misdemeanors such as playing games on a Sunday or perhaps for being under suspicion of involvement in the Dark Arts. The unfortunate Meg and her Daughters were petrified for using an illicit love potion or, according to some, merely turned to stone by a bad-tempered witch because she felt like it!

Long Meg has also attracted the commonly held notion that stones of ancient circles were uncountable. Celia Fiennes (1662-1741), a woman who journeyed throughout England on horseback accompanied by her maid, wrote in her journal of a visit to Long Meg in 1698 -- 'they affirm they cannot be counted twice alike as is the story of Stonidge (Stonehenge). If one did manage to count the same number twice, doom would ultimately follow. It was also courting disaster to interfere with the stones. In the 19th century, it was said that if one broke a piece off Long Meg she would bleed, and that when some destructive wag attempted to blast the circle away with dynamite, such a tempest arose that his retainers fled in terror. This circle also has a clear astronomical alignment -- the midwinter sun would set over the outlier (the Long Meg stone) when viewed from the centre of the circle. Traces of a henge remain within the site, and the Long Meg stone has some cup-and-ring marks upon its surface. 

Long Meg known for having capabilities including regeneration (healing, empowerment), education (they almost all seem to respond to this element) and for revelation (i.e. transformation of consciousness). It also registered as being primarily a lunar energy driven site.  

On our way out of the site we came across a tree with lots of colorful ribbons tied to it. Ahah – another ‘wishing tree’ in active use, just like at Nine Ladies in Derbyshire, and many other sites.

Ahah! Mystery Solved!!

During my oh too brief stay at the enchanting Eden Hall in Penrith, I would take an exploratory stroll down a different lonely country road, daily.  On one particular morning, I spied a little garden filled with the strange and curious flowers that I had seen at Hampton Court.  Then to my delight, I saw a car pulling out of the driveway, not wanting to throw away my good fortune, I quickly waved the driver down...and to my surprise she stopped her car.  I swiftly assaulted the aged woman (Barbara was her name) with my compliments on the flora in her garden.  All the time in the back of my head, I was hoping that she wouldn’t think I was some sort of raving American lunatic.  She then spritely jumped out of her car and proudly took me on a tour of her cheery, color bursting garden... I shyly pointed to the mysterious flora in question, and Barbara wryly smiled back at me and said, “ Why that’s a Red Hot Poker!” Ahah! Of course, I should have guest... Barbara went on to say, the Red Hot Poker is also known as -- Kniphofia uvaria,  Tritoma, and Torch Lily, due to the shape and color of its inflorescence.  The leaves are reminiscent of a lily, and the flowerhead can reach up to 5 feet in height.  There are many varieties of torch lily, and they bloom at different times during the growing season. The flowers are red, orange, and yellow.  And then to my utter delight, Barbara then told me this old wives-tale...  House wives, sometimes found difficulty in butter-making, they believed that a "spell" was casted by a local, jealous witch.  To break the “spell,” the remedy that they used was to plunge a red-hot poker into the contents of the churn, when the spell was broken, the butter immediately began to form.

Intrigued, I thanked Barbara for all her help and then hurried home to do my research but alas, this is all that was found... Although there seems to be no direct reference to the use of the RED HOT POKERS in traditional medicine or folklore, there are a few other members of the group, which are indeed listed as being used as snake deterrents as well as use of the roots for relieving chest complaints. Other torch lillies are also listed as being used by the Xhosa women for bringing good luck to their children.

What really happened in Mr. Mcgregors garden!

The Tale of Peter Rabbit is a children's book written and illustrated by Beatrix Potter that follows mischievous and disobedient young Peter Rabbit.  The tale was written for five-year-old Noel Moore, son of Potter's former governess Annie Moore, in 1893.

Peter Rabbit, his sisters Flopsy, Mopsy, and Cottontail, and his mother are rabbits who dress in human clothing and generally walk upright on their hind legs, though they live in a rabbit hole under a fir-tree. The tale really begins when Mother Rabbit forbids her children: Don't go into Mr McGregor's garden: your father had an accident there, he was put into a pie by Mrs McGregor!  However, while Mrs. Rabbit is shopping and the girls are collecting blackberries, Peter sneaks into the garden. There, he gorges on vegetables until he gets sick, and is then chased about by Mr. McGregor. When Peter loses his jacket and his shoes, Mr. McGregor uses them to dress a scarecrow --

What really happened in Mr. Mcgregors garden!
RABBIT STEW that's what --

Serves: 4 --  Cooking time: 7.5 hrs

Ingredients:

2 Rabbits quartered (waist coats removed)
2 Rabbit Livers
2 Red Onions
Rind and Juice of 1 Orange
1 small bag dried apricots
2 cloves garlic
Chicken stock
1 T raspberry jam
Salt + Pepper
Flour to coat
Slosh of tabasco
Good Glug of Worcestershire sauce
Pinch of Mixed herbs
5 Carrots Sliced
1 T Olive oil
2 t Mustard powder

Method: Place Rabbits, Flour and Salt and Pepper in freezer bag and shake to coat rabbits. Mince Livers and brown with rabbits, onions and garlic in a pan.  Add all ingredients to the slow cooker and cook for 7 hours, stirring every hours.  Serve with couscous, fried red cabbage and brussels sprouts!  

Just kidding! Peter narrowly escapes the garden and returns to his mother exhausted and ill.  And all is well when she puts him to bed with a dose of camomile tea while his sisters (who have been good little bunnies) enjoy bread and milk and blackberries for supper.
Beatrix Potter: A Life in Nature

Wild about Poppy!

All the way from an English Garden in Penrith I bring you the Wild Poppie or also known as Corn Rose, Blindybuff, Prickly Poppy, Bloodroot are all part of the Poppy family, (Papaveraceae.)

It is said that if you hold a poppy to your eyes it will blind you.  That is why in Mid- Yorkshire the wild poppy is called blindybuff.

Culpeper Virtues of the Wild Poppie. The herb is Lunar, and of the juice of it is made opium; only for lucre of money they cheat you, and tell you it is a kind of tear, or some such like thing, that drops from Poppies when they weep, and that is somewhere beyond the seas, I know not where beyond the Moon. The garden Poppy heads with seeds made into a syrup, is frequently, and to good effect used to procure rest, and sleep, in the sick and weak, and to stay catarrhs and defluxions of thin rheums from the head into the stomach and lungs, causing a continual cough, the fore runner of a consumption; it helps also hoarseness of the throat, and when one have lost their voice, which the oil of the seed doth likewise. The black seed boiled in wine, and drank, is said also to dry the flux of the belly, and women's courses. The empty shells, or poppy heads, are usually boiled in water, and given to procure rest and sleep: so doth the leaves in the same manner; as also if the head and temples be bathed with the decoction warm, or with the oil of the poppies, the green leaves or heads bruised, and applied with a little vinegar, or made into a poultice with barley meal or hog's grease, cools and tempers all inflammations; as also the disease called St. Anthony's fire.

Wild poppies are said to invoke faery into your dreams. Make a dream pillow of fresh wild poppies to entice the fae to your forty-winks.

To make a faery dream pillow

Cut out two squares of soft fabric approximately 6 inches square
Velvet,velveteen or satin are preferred,
Sew around three sides of the squares with
white or silver thread. Mix in a bowl:

Rose Petals (two parts)
Primroses (one part)
Bay leaves, fresh (one part)
Lavender (one part )
Wild Poppies (two parts)

Turn the pillow inside out so that the seams don't show, stuff the pillow
with your herb mixture. Sew up the end so that the herbs stay in the pillow.
You can then decorate the pillow if you want with lace, silk, or embroider
with designs, etc. Take this pillow to bed with you at night and put it
under your pillow. This not only smells great but will help you to have
dreams of the fey. NOTE: After six months these pillows may lose their
"fresh" scent. You can reuse them by emptying out the old contents and
refilling them with new herbs

Attention all Zingertalers, guess the name of the Mystery Flower --

And win a free page of Zingertales devoted to the flower of your choice!

definitely, deadly nightshade!

The Deadly Nightshade of Hampton Court! The common name belladonna originates from its historic use by women - Bella Donna is Italian for beautiful lady.  Drops prepared from the belladonna plant were used to dilate  women's pupils, an effect considered attractive.  Belladonna is currently rarely used cosmetically, as it carries the adverse effects of causing minor visual distortions, inability to focus on near objects, and increased heart rate.  Prolonged usage was reputed to cause blindness.
A. belladonna, the berries of belladonna, has been used in traditional treatments  for centuries for an assortment of conditions including headache, menstrual symptoms, peptic ulcer disease, histaminic reaction, inflammation, and motion sickness, with at least one 19th century eclectic medicine journal explaining how to prepare a Belladonna tincture for direct administration to patients.  Homeopathic belladonna preparations have been sold as treatments for various conditions, although there is no scientific evidence to support their efficacy.

The Deadly Nightshade's poison was used by early men in poisonous arrows.  In Ancient Rome, it was used as a poison by Agrippina the younger, wife of Emperor Claudius, and Livia,  who is rumored to have used it to kill her husband Emperor Augustus.  Macbeth of Scotland, when he was still one of the lieutenants of King Duncan I of Scotland, used it during a truce to poison the troops of the invading Harold Harefoot, King of England, to the point that the English troops were unable to stand their ground and had to retreat to their ships.  The leaves of belladonna, in the past, it was believed that witches used a mixture of belladonna, opium poppy and other plants, typically poisonous  in flying ointment they applied to help them fly to gatherings with other witches.   But Carlo Ginzburg and others have argued that flying ointments were preparations meant to encourage hallucinatory dreaming.

the lime trees of hampton court!

Tilia vulgaris - Lime

This photo was taken in the great fountain garden at hampton court, orginally a parkland, this area was added to the palace gardens by William III and Mary II. I was struck by the amazingly clipped lime trees... and here is a bit information on them that I was able to uncover!

Many of the lime trees in Britain are hybrids between the large-leaved lime and the small-leaved lime species. This impressive tree grows to a height of 45 metres, making it one of the tallest broad-leaved trees in Britain, and it has a sprouting bole. In towns these trees attract aphids, which deposit sticky honeydew droppings on cars (and on people!) beneath them.

Tilia flowers are used medicinally for colds, cough, fever, infections, inflammation, high blood pressure, headache (particularly migraine), as a diuretic (increases urine production), antispasmodic (reduces smooth muscle spasm along the digestive tract), and sedative.  New evidence shows that the flowers may be hepatoprotective. The flowers were added to baths to quell hysteria, and steeped as a tea to relieve anxiety-related indigestion, irregular heartbeat, and vomiting. The leaves are used to promote sweating to reduce fevers. The wood is used for liver and gallbladder disorders and cellulitis (inflammation of the skin and surrounding soft tissue). That wood burned to charcoal is ingested to treat intestinal disorders and used topically to treat edema or infection such as cellulitis or ulcers of the lower leg.

A medieval love poem by Walther von der Vogelweide (c. 1170–c. 1230) starts with a reference to the Tilia tree:

Under the Tilia tree

on the open field,

where we two had our bed,

you still can see

lovely both

broken flowers and grass.

On the edge of the woods in a vale,

tandaradei,

sweetly sang the nightingale.

Lemmie the wondrous bat-dog hits dead end!

Sources say, Lemmie was ensuing a clandestine tip on the supplier of the Youtan Poluos whereabouts. The tip shepherded him to a remote village temple near Jiangxi, a province in China.  Where Lemmie’s informant believed the heavy trafficking of the mini blooms was running amok.  Lemmie, nose to the ground and hot on the scent of justice, busted into the home of Miao Ding, a 50 year old Chinese nun living in Lushan Mountain not so near the Jiangxi, really not so near... When caught red handed by Lemmie, Miao Ding lickety-splickety explained that she was cleaning when she discovered the cluster of white flowers under the washing machine.  At first she thought the barely-there stems were worm eggs, however, the next day she discovered that the stems had grown 18 white tiny flowers on top and smelled "fragrant." She was told by a local monk Xiao Xing that these blooms were indeed specimens of the miraculous Youtan Poluo flower - called "Udumbara" or "Udambara" meaning in Sanskrit, "an auspicious flower from heaven." But Miao Ding believed, it's all just horse crap!  Lemmie was not so convinced of Miao Ding's innocence, but scientists have now confirmed Ding’s story, the once believed Youtan Poluo flowers found under her washing machine is in fact only a common thread-like dung fungi.  I bet Lemmie is missing Gnomie the Gnome right around now!

Update: Correction: It has been brought to our attention here at Zingertales that Lemmie is not a he but in actuality is a she, born as Lemon Drop.

Will Lemmie aka Lemon Drop crack this case? Stay glued to Zingertalesandmore to find out! I’m Ana Traina and this is Zingertales.

The Yellow Broom!

As Liam and I were sailing down the Thames River, I was struck by the beauty of the Yellow Blooms that lined the river's bank!  Drenched in wonderment, I quickly asked around the boat if anyone knew the name of these extraordinary flowers.  I was promply informed by two rightly proper marms with twinkling blue eyes that the yellow blossoms were indeed called, Yellow Broom!  Here is what I was able to discovery on my search --
The Plantagenet kings used common broom (known as "planta genista" in Latin) as an emblem and took their name from it. It was originally the emblem of Geoffrey of Anjou, father of Henry II of England. Wild broom is still common in dry habitats around Anjou, France.
Genista tinctoria (dyer's broom, also known as dyer's greenweed or dyer's greenwood), provides a useful yellow dye and was grown commercially for this purpose in parts of Britain into the early 19th century. Woollen cloth, moranted with alum, was dyed yellow with dyer's greenweed, then dipped into a vat of blue dye (woad or, later, indigo) to produce the once-famous "Kendal Green" (largely superseded by the brighter "Saxon Green" in the 1770s).  Kendal green is a local common name for the plant.
The flower buds and flowers of Cytisus scoparius have been used as a salad ingredient, raw or pickled, and were a popular ingredient for salmagundi (salad hodepodge or mix of widely disparate things) or "grand sallet" during the 17th and 18th century. There are now concerns about the toxicity of broom, with potential effects on the heart and problems during pregnancy.
Medicinally, broom was believed to be a cure for kidney and bladder complaints in Anglo- Saxon times. It was also one of the major medicinal plants in all the European schools of medicine. The English King Henry VIII (1491-1547) is said to have drunk its flower water and the flowers have been employed as a treatment for gout. Herbalists recommended juice extracted from young branches or twigs as a remedy for fever, jaundice, fluid retention, rheumatism and pain. Broom, although poisonous in large doses, is still used today (sometimes as an antidote for some poisons, including snake bites.
In Welsh mythology, Blodeuwedd is the name of a woman made from the flowers of broom, meadowsweet and the oak by Math fab Mathonwy and Gwydion to be the wife of Lieu Llaw Gyffes. Her story is part of the Fourth Branch of yhe Mabinogi, the tale of Math son of Mathonwy.
A traditional rhyme from Sussex says: "Sweep the house with blossed broom in May/sweep the head of the household away." Despite this, it was also common to include a decorated bundle of broom at weddings. Ashes of broom were used to treat dropsy, while its strong smell was said to be able to tame wild horses and dogs.

THE BROOM FLOWER -- Mary Howitt [1799-1888]

Oh the Broom, the yellow Broom,


The ancient poet sung it,


And dear it is on summer days


To lie at rest among it.

I know the realms where people say

The flowers have not their fellow;


I know where they shine out like suns,


The crimson and the yellow.

I know where ladies live enchained
In luxury's silken fetters,


And flowers as bright as glittering gems


Are used for written letters.

But ne'er was flower so fair as this,

In modern days or olden;


It groweth on its nodding stem

Like to a garland golden.

And all about my mother's door


Shine out its glittering bushes,


And down the glen, 

where clear as light


The mountain-water gushes.

Take all the rest;

 but give me this,


And the bird that nestles in it;

I love it, for it loves the Broom -


The green and yellow linnet.

Well call the rose the queen of flowers,


And boast of that of Sharon,

Of lilies like to marble cups,


And the golden rod of Aaron:

I care not how these flowers may be


Beloved of man and woman;


The Broom it is the flower for me,


That groweth on the common.

Oh the Broom, the yellow Broom,


The ancient poet sung it,


And dear it is on summer days


To lie at rest among it.

Pippa and ollie's riddle

A thousand colored folds stretch toward the sky,

Atop a tender strand,

Rising from the land,

‘Til killed by maiden’s hand,

Perhaps a token of love, perhaps to say goodbye.

will post answer on tuesday, in the mean time --

happy riddling!

All the way from the United Kingdom, Gillyflowers!

I have always wanted to know what Gillyflowers were and in my limited research I found, the plants that are most usually called gillyflowers seem to be carnations and pinks, they were very significant flowers in Tudor times and were used symbolically in art. The 'clove gillyflower' was Dianthus caryophyllus, which was introduced from the Turkish court and had a lovely clovey-nutmeg scent, very popular in nosegays(tussie-mussies). These were the ancestors of our modern carnations and legends tell how they first appeared on earth when Christ carried the cross. As she walked behind Him, the Virgin's tears dropped on the ground and carnations sprang up where they fell - because of this they came to symbolize undying love.

Ancient recipe for Sack with Clove-Gilly flowers!

If you will make a Cordial Liquor of Sack with Clove-Gillyflowers, you must do thus.  Prepare your Gillyflowers, as is said before, and put them into great double glass-bottles, that hold two gallons a piece, or more; and put to every gallon of Sack, a good half pound of the wiped and cut flowers, putting in the flowers first, and then the Sack upon them. Stop the glasses exceeding close, and set them in a temperate Cellar. Let them stand so, till you see that the Sack hath drawn out all the principal tincture from them, and that the flowers begin to look palish; (with an eye of pale, or faint in Color) Then pour the Sack from them, and throw away the exhausted flowers, or distill a spirit from them; For if you let them remain longer in the Sack, they will give an earthy tast to them. You may then put the tinted Sack into fit bottles for your use, stopping them very close. But if the season of the flowers be not yet past, your Sack will be better, if you put it upon new flowers, which I conceive will not be the worse, but per adventure the better, if they be a little dried in the shade. If you drink a Glass or two of this sack at a meal, you will find it a great Cordial.

Upon better consideration; I conceive the best way of making Hydromel with Clove-gillyflowers, is thus: Boil your simple Liquor to it's full height (with three parts of water to one of Honey,) take a small parcel out, to make a strong infusion of flowers, pouring it boyling hot upon the flowers in earthen vessels. If you will easily draw out the tincture in fourteen or sixteen hours infusion; otherwise you may quicken your liquor with a parcel of Sack. In the mean time make the great quantity of Liquor work with yest. When it hath almost done fermenting, but not quite, put the infusion to it warm, and let it ferment more if it will. When that is almost done, put to it a bag with flowers to hang in the bung.

I conceive that Hydromel made with Juniper-berries (first broken and bruised) boiled in it, is very good.  Add also to it Rosemary and Bayleaves.

Upon trial of several ways, I conclude (as things yet appear to me) that to keep Meath long, it must not be fermented with yeast (unless you put Hops to it) but put it in the barrel, and let it ferment of it self, keeping a thick plate of lead upon the bung, to lie close upon it, yet so that the working of the Liquor may raise it, to purge out the foulness, and have always some new made plain Liquor, to fill it up as it sinks, warm whiles it works: but cold during three or four month's after. Then stop the bung exceeding close. And when you will make your Mead with Cherries or Morello-Cherries, or Raspes, or Bilberries, or Black cherries, put their juice to the Liquor when you tun it, without ever boiling it therein; about one quart of juice to every three or four gallons of Liquor. You may squeeze out the clear juice, and mingle it with the Liquor, and hang the Magma in a bag in the bung. I think it is best to break the stones of the Cherries, before you put their Magma into the bag.

Since I conceive, that Clove-gilly-flowers must never be boiled in the Liquor: that evaporate their Spirits, which are very volatile: But make a strong infusion of them, and besides hang a bag of them in the bung. In conceive that it is good to make the Liquor pretty strong (not too much, but so as the taste may be grateful) of some strong herbs, as Rosemary, Bay-leaves, Sweet-marjoram, Thyme, Broad-thyme, and the like. For they preserve the drink, and make it better for the stomach and head. Sanding in the Sun is the best way of Fermentation, when the drink is strong. The Root of Angelic or Elecampane or Eringo, or Orris may be good and pleasant, to be boiled in the Liquor. Raspes and Cherries and Bilberies are never to be boiled, but their juece put into the Liquor, when it is turning. Use only Morello-Cherries (I think) for pleasure, and blackones for health. I conceive it best to use very little spice of any kind in Meathes.

transcribed by joyce miller

footnote: sack is a dry white wine!

Once upon a time...Sara Berhardt had a garden!

Sara Bernhardt lived at the chelsea hotel, she had a glorious garden I am told... and entertained lovers in her coffin.  Now all that is left of a life once lived and a time gone by; is a gilded mirror, a brass swan spigott and a struggling Trumpet Vine.

As I stood on the roof of the Chelsea Hotel I imagined, gay moonlit garden parties with wonderful artists chatting about their craft... later that night, I scoured the internet looking for any photo of Sara's once upon a time rooftop garden, excited to see if my imagination was up to par.  To my great disappointment I found none.  Alas, I am left with only my floating images of Sarah as she looked out from her tiny window onto hummingbirds attracted to the bright orange, red and hot pink blossoms of the Trumpet Creepers, as their narrow beaks reached the nectar of the long, tubular flowers... and I smile at the bliss she must of felt gazing upon such a miraculous sight.

Hummingbird Pause at the Trumpet Vine
by Mary Oliver

Who doesn’t love
roses, and who
doesn’t love the lilies
of the black ponds

floating like flocks
of tiny swans,
and of course, the flaming
trumpet vine

where the hummingbird comes
like a small green angel, to soak
his dark tongue
in happiness -

and who doesn’t want
to live with the brisk
motor of his heart
singing

like a Schubert
and his eyes
working and working like those days of rapture,
by Van Gogh in Arles?

Look! for most of the world
is waiting
or remembering -
most of the world is time

when we’re not here,
not born yet, or died -
a slow fire
under the earth with all
our dumb wild blind cousins
who also
can’t even remember anymore
their own happiness -

Look! and then we will be
like the pale cool
stones, that last almost
forever.

Unexpected gardens!

Yesterday, I was invited to lunch with Sheila Berger, an old friend that I had not seen in many years, we were pals almost a lifetime ago in Paris, France... but first, I was invited to her art studio that is located on 27th street between 10th and 11th avenue, a very desolate part of town, if that is actually possible in New York City.  So, imagine my surprise when the elevator door creaked open and I was greeted by the entryway of "Blood Manor"... Now, I am a native New Yorker and I do not scare easily but let me explain that many dark thoughts rushed through my mind, and I am sure you can imagine what!  I quickly pushed the down button and whipped out my handy-dandy cell phone and promtly called Sheila, who explained to me that her studio lied just behind Blood Manor, a once a year haunted house event... whew!  I followed Sheila down the dark ghoulish hall and then to my wondrous surprise we entered, Sheila's Sumptuous Secret Garden, her studio... 

As I looked around in awe, Sheila explained that she had been influenced by her lifetime of travel to some of the most remote parts of the globe, her paintings are both a reflection of the visual richness of these experiences and a space to breathe, not unlike a garden.  She also spoke about how she found inspiration, in the inbetween spaces, where things unexpectly grew in her own garden up on top of the Chelsea Hotel.  As Sheila's process is a slow and ritualistic one, the work likewise demands a quiet concentration, gift of time, and a willingness to listen to their silence. Part of her pleasure in crafting these paintings is the celebration of a technique unchanged for thousands of years: the melting of encaustic then repeatedly painting her special custom-made wooden panels until they have the desired texture. The result is a tabula rasa awaiting her impressions. With the introduction of pigments, and the use of wood-block patterns some centuries old--unearthed in India or Persia--Sheila, like an exacting alchemist, builds each painting into a palimpsest of memories, moods and emotion.  

Sheila's newest work is an ode to her mother Rosalie, and motherhood... it tells the tragic and beautiful story of a mother having to let go so that her children may learn to fly, yet always silently being there and watching... whether they stumble, fall, or soar.

 Silverplate dhalia from Sheila's garden on top of the Chelsea Hotel.

By Adrian Dannat, for Paul Kasmin Gallery, 2009

a not so rare interview with lemmie, the wondrous bat dog!

when we last met lemmie, the wondrous bat-dog  -- able to leap small tulips in a single bound! my hero!!

he was with his partner in crime; gnomie, the gnome. they were guarding king hal’s secret garden  --  and if you remember while we were just standing by the garden gate waiting for his royal highness to grace us with an appearance, i took the opportunity to shoot the breeze with gnomie the gnome -- as i am fluent in gnomish and speak several  dialects of the language... and i was able to squeeze out of gnomie the gnome this vital information -- they were guarding a rare and mostly forgotten wild plant named, chenopodium bonus-henricus, or gutter heinrich, aka good king henry.

well, today i spied lemmie on 122nd street and riverside drive, talking to a couple of tulips, and today dear citizens is truly a sad day as i learned from lemmie, that gnomie the gnome was nearly mortally wounded in the line of duty by fire spewing imps that stormed good ole king henry's garden gate.  gnomie the gnomie bravely fought with nearly his last breath, lemmie told me -- but on a happier note, the kings's garden remains unscorched and the havoc wreaking imps were arrested and put behind thorny vines.

i tried to pry into lemmie's next caper but he wasn't talking due to the fact that there were too many bugs around...  but after i slipped him a few doggie treats laced with cat nip his tongue loosened just enough for him to let slip that he would be doing a bit of globe trotting in the next couple of weeks in pursuit of the world's most wanted and dangerous Youtan Poluo smuggler... the rare youtan poluo is a legendary flower thought to exist only in the Buddhist scriptures. According to botanical experts, the flower only blooms once every 3000 years. 

stay planted for more on lemmie the wondrous bat dog and his death defying garden adventures!

i am ana traina signing off for zingertales...

Checkered Lily's past!

Aka: Snake's Head Fritillary or Snakehead Lily, because the blossom, before the bud is fully opened, reminds some of a striking cobra. It was sometimes associated with death, & Vita Sackville-West declared it to be "a sinister little flower, in the mournful color of decay." This is certainly not what I see in it, but those who imagined this flower to be serpenty & sinister lent it such common names as Deathbell, Madam Ugly, Widow's Veil, Snake-flower, Toad-heads, Weeping Frits, Sullen Ladies, Drooping Tulips, & other such downcast-sounding titles.

They were also formerly called Lazarus Bells again associated with death, or Leopard Lilies, but these names were corruptions of Lazar's Bells or Lepers' Lilies, because the shape & markings of the flowers were suggestive of leprosy, while the overall shape of the flower was reminiscent of the bells attached to the clothing of beggar-lepers to announce their arrival or warn of their presence. This antique association with lepers & leprosy would seem to be the half-remembered reason for their association with death, since there's nothing in their beautiful appearance that would otherwise explain mistaking them for sinister.

As one of the longest-cultivated fritillaries, it was a regular feature in Elizabethan gardens. They were formerly known as Narcissus caperonius or Caperon's Narcissus because they were first brought to England in 1572 by a druggist named Noel Caperon who found them in France.  Caperon was afterward a victim of the St. Bartholomew Day Massacre in 1578. 

All Passion Spent

Charles Dickens on Flowers!

The flowers that sleep by night, opened their gentle eyes and turned them to the day. The light, creation's mind, was everywhere, and all things owned its power. 

~ Charles Dickens ~ The Old Curiosity Shop

Man or Womandrake, pick your poison!

Mandragora has been peppered in Literature throughout the ages...In Genesis 30:14, Leah gives Rachel mandrakes in exchange for a night of sleeping with their husband. During wheat harvest, Reuben went out into the fields and found some mandrake plants, which he brought to his mother Leah.  Rachel said to Leah, "Please give me some of your son's mandrakes."  In the Song of Songs, it is used as a symbol of fragrance: "The mandrakes send out their fragrance, and at our door is every delicacy, both new and old, that I have stored up for you, my lover." In its more sinister significance:  Machiavelli wrote a play Mandragola (The Mandrake) in which the plot revolves around the use of a mandrake potion as a ploy to bed a woman.  Shakespeare refers four times to mandrake and twice under the name of mandragora.
"...Not poppy, nor mandragora,
Nor all the drowsy syrups of the world,
Shall ever medicine thee to that sweet sleep
Which thou owedst yesterday."
Shakespeare: Othello III.iii
"Give me to drink mandragora...
That I might sleep out this great gap of time
My Antony is away."
Shakespeare: Antony and Cleopatra I.v
"Shrieks like mandrakes' torn out of the earth."
Shakespeare: Romeo and Juliet IV.iii
"Would curses kill, as doth the mandrake's groan"
Longhorn wrote "Mark how the mandrake wears his human feet, his human hands”, and that it was also said to shriek when torn out of the ground is echoed by Longfellow: “Or teach me where that wondrous mandrake grows,/ Whose magic root, torn from the earth with groans/ At midnight hour, can scarce the fiends away,/ And make the mind prolific in its fancies”. 

There are many literary allusions to the mandrake these were just a few... now, in my research I came across...

A recipe for ancient mandrake beer! 

But first a few word of caution the Mandrake is one of the most powerful plants in the Solanacea family of plants. It contains the same type of alkaloids as belladonna, brugmansia, datura, but in a different mix, and has some of it's own dangerous alkaloids not found in those other plants.

 However, it has a long history of use in beverages, and has purported aphrodesiac qualities if the dose is just right. And indeed, if you use it "just so" it is an excellent aphrodesiac! Also, you must be aware that many herb shops are selling other plants as "mandrake". The only plant that is real mandrake, for the purposes of this discussion, is Mandragora Officinarum. So if you are going to make this beer, make sure you get that particular species of plant, if you want the effects to be the same as the faithful old recipe you are going to re-create.


Ancient mandrake beer Ingredients: 

4 pounds malt extract, 2 pounds dark brown sugar, 1/2 ounce dried mandrake root, 4 gallons water, Yeast (amount depends on the product)

Boil water and mandrake root for one hour and strain.  Add malt extract and sugar to cooling wort and stir until completely dissolved. Cool to 70 degrees F, pour into fermenter, and add yeast. Ferment until complete.  Prime bottles with sugar, bottle, and cap. Ready in one to two weeks.

Mrs. Grieves suggests a less risky alternative which would yeild a very pleasant-tasting botanic beer that is made from Nettle Herb. Quantities of the young fresh tops are boiled in a gallon of water, with the juice of two lemons, a teaspoonful of crushed ginger and 1 Lb. of brown sugar. Fresh yeast is floated on toast in the liquor, when cold, to ferment it, and when it is bottled the result is a specially wholesome sort of ginger beer. 

the magician's table and floriography!

Water Color by Linda Chapman

Alice, in Through the Looking Glass was surprised to hear the Tiger lily speak.  She asked, "And can all the flowers talk?" "As well as you can," said the Tiger lily, "and a great deal louder."  I myself must confess that I only know a few wicked words and their meanings in the language of the flowers...here is my vocabulary up to date; yellow rose - jealousy, begonia - beware I am fanciful, gladiolus - you pierce my heart like a sword, dead leaves - melancholy, hemlock - you will be my death, nettle - cruelty! 

Now for a bit of history that I have recently learned, the word tusmose, or tussie-mussie first appeared in English about 1440.  By 1558, it was tuzziemuzzie, a sweet posie, a nose-gay.  or some called it a “tuttie.”  I had a friend growing up and her nickname was tuttie, but that’s a story for another day!  Whatever this small, handheld bouquet was called, it was always associated with the “sweet” herbs that warded off the unsavory stench that offended sensitive noses in the heat of a London summer, they primarily consisted of herbs such as rosemary, thyme, and rue... 

The smell of sweet herbs and all kinds of wholesome growth made the air a great nosegay. - Charles Dickens, Bleak House

In England, during Elizabethan times, judges carried tussie-mussies into their courtrooms to protect against "gaol(jail) fever." Today, judges at England's highest court, the Old Bailey, celebrate this tradition by carrying a tussie-mussie into court six times a year.  The Victorians also turned flower giving into an art.  it was common practice at the beginning of a courtship for suitors to give their intended a tussie-musssie.  Floriography, the art of sending messages by flowers, brought a new dimension to tussie-mussies. 

Chapman’s national reputation as an exceptionally gifted watercolorist has been established over her career as a professional artist since 1976.

Chapman’s works in classical realism are widely collected and have been purchased by numerous museums, including the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Norton Museum in West Palm Beach, the Minnesota Museum of Art, the University of Wyoming Art Museum, Edwin Ulrich Museum of Art in Kansas, the Boise Museum of Art and the University of South Florida Contemporary Art Museum. 

Linda Chapman was born in Bradenton, Florida.  She currently makes her home in Bradenton and maintains studios in Bradenton and New York City.  She exhibits her paintings in selected art galleries and accepts a limited number of commissioned works as her schedule permits.

   

Books

Martin, Alvin. American Realism: Twentieth Century Drawings and Watercolors. 

New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1986.

Museum of Modern Art. Works on Paper by American Artists in the Permanent Collection.

New York: M.O.M.A., 1990.

Krantz, Les. The New York Art Review. 

Chicago: American References, Inc., 1988.

Avery, Anne. American Artists of Renown.

Gilmer, TX: Wilson Publishing Co.1982.

McGrath, Robert. The Face of America: Contemporary Portraits in Watercolor.

New York: Old Forge Arts Guild, 1994.

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Contact: Julie B. Hayes

(941) 746-7856

Pt.PleasantStudios@gmail.com