Sacred Datura - I Paint the Earth and Sky With Flowers

My very first Sacred Datura flower EVER just beginning to open Wednesday evening on the full moon.  I planted this from a teeny seed in March and I was so excited that it chose to bloom on June's full moon.  I grabbed my camera, stood on a lawn chair and snapped this picture from above.   It's enchanting and otherworldly, well worth the TLC I gave it. 

I was at a local art gallery this week and my husband (who paints) was talking to the two owner/artists.  They turned to me and asked me what my medium was.  I replied, "Words, earth and sky.  I write poetry and plant flowers that paint the earth and the sky." Much to my delight, I left them both speechless. 

The white, trumpet-shaped bloom of the Sacred Datura provides a fairyland of delicate beauty, moths, butterflies, long-tongued bees, hummingbirds and mystical, moonlit nights. It gives rise to some of the plant’s other names: Angel’s Trumpet, Moon Lily, Moonflower or Belladonna (beautiful lady).

The fully open flower smells heavenly, but only lasts from evening till morning.  I have a passion for night-blooming flowers.  A friend/neighbor of my mother had this flower growing on a bush and she gave me a large green seed pod that had dozens of tiny seeds on it.  I saved it in a jar all winter and planted the seeds in March.  Now I have 3 bushes loaded with blooms just waiting to open up.  This flower is not the same as my vining Moonflowers which are of the Morning Glory family.

"Entranced by the garden's beauty, my soul was stolen from me, and I suddenly found myself standing in a world of flowers.  The blossoming flowers were all expanding to fill the air, the water and the earth.  Perhaps it was then, as I leaned over the petals,  that I realized I was touching something. . . something that wasn't the flowers."  ~Ohno Kazuo, describing the dance, 'Water Lilies'.

This is a long shot of the bush.  I have it growing in a pot, but it grows well in the ground.  Those finger-looking light green growths are future flowers.  The leaves are huge, soft and velvety to the touch.

"People from a planet without flowers would think we must be mad with joy the whole time to have such things about us." ~Iris Murdoch, A Fairly Honourable Defeat

"The temple bell stops but I still hear the sound coming out of the flowers." ~Basho

Many people tell me that they have no green thumb.  Well, that's pure dee bullshit.  I've killed as many flowers as I've grown.  Like most things in life, it's all about perseverance. It seems there are certain flowers meant for certain people, is all.  I tell anyone who wants to grow flowers to buy a 10 cent package of Zinnia seeds at any dollar store, sprinkle them on any kind of dirt in a flower pot or the ground, water them and in no time at all you'll have dozens of blooming flowers in all colors.  I call Zinnias the crayolas of the flower world.  Also, they come back every year.

I leave you with one of my Zinnias.  It's brothers and sisters were pink, white, orange and yellow, some shaped like daisies, others like this one...all from the same package.

"Flowers have spoken to me more than I can tell in written words. They are the hieroglyphics of angels, loved by all men for the beauty of their character, though few can decipher even fragments of their meaning."  ~Lydia M. Child

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WHAT I BEEN UP TO
By Marion

I been star-gazing, moon bathing
Growing moonflowers large as plates
Drinking books and eating lies
Reading apples and breaking ties.

Cuttin’ my hair and shavin’ my legs
Paintin’ on lips that make men beg
Talkin' to dragonflies, cussin’ my cat
Washin' dishes and fightin' fat.

Found 5 pounds and lost it again
Spend a whole weekend listening to the wind
Did a little study on Kate Chopin
Analyzed the myths, then turned and ran.

Saved some money, (got me a tan)
Spent it all on books, started over again.
Kissed the earth, then painted the sky
With awesome wild flowers that made me cry

Wiped my tears from off my face
Then headed right back to the old rat race.