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nicole-amdg
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| Posted: May 23 2007 at 12:56pm | IP Logged
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I'm trying to find a "Marian" name for the gardenia--I find it hard to believe that such a fragrant, beautiful flower has no association with Mary. Does anyone know one?
Also, I read the idea on another thread about "renaming" flowers that didn't already have a name. I'm already mulling possibilities for some flowers. If you have done this, I'm curious--what have you come up with?
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JennGM
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I don't have a Marian name for the gardenia, but it seems perfectly appropriate for a Mary Garden.
Instead of the name, you can use the symbolism of the flower to stand for Mary. In the language of flowers gardenia stands for purity and refinement.
And how about this definition of refinement: a highly developed state of perfection; having a flawless or impeccable quality. Doesn't that define the Blessed Virgin Mary?
And the fragrance and delicate white flower just seem so Marian to me. Florence Berger quotes from the Book of Sirach about the fragrance of Mary.
Anyway, that's my interpretation.
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Jennifer G. Miller
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JennGM
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| Posted: May 23 2007 at 1:52pm | IP Logged
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I am going to mention that the gardenia is my favorite flower and fragrance above all, so I'm quick to defend it!
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Cay Gibson
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My gardenias are in full bloom right now just outside my patio doors.
Annie brought a fleshly plucked bloom to her great-grandmother and great-aunt the other day and the whole living room was sweetly scented during their stay.
I'm with Nicole...there must be some connection.
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Celeste
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Jenn, I love your interpretation! (Gardenias are my favorite, too--it breaks my heart that I can't grow them!)
Celeste
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nicole-amdg
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Jenn, my thoughts exactly! Gardenias are my favorite, too. And I also read that another meaning is "secret love," which called to my mind an enclosed garden....
Cay, we have gardenias in bloom too (next door, at my MIL's)--they just opened two days ago, and are just gorgeous. I long to fill the house with vases of them, but dh has allergies, so I'll have to content myself with opening the windows during the day!
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Cay Gibson
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| Posted: May 23 2007 at 4:57pm | IP Logged
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Posted a little gift for all of you who either don't have them or can't grow them.
You'll have to scroll down a little. Wish you could smell them.
Gardens in Bloom
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Cay Gibson
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nicole-amdg
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Cay, your pictures are lovely! I wish I had a blog and a garden to post about! (Well, the garden bit is in development, at least.) Those blooms are almost as beautiful as the sweetie holding one.
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Celeste
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Mmmmm. . . . Cay, thank you so much. I'm gazing at them dreamily. Really, I can almost smell them.
I carried gardenias in my wedding bouquet. I tell my girls that heaven smells like gardenias.
Celeste
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JennGM
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Celeste wrote:
Mmmmm. . . . Cay, thank you so much. I'm gazing at them dreamily. Really, I can almost smell them.
I carried gardenias in my wedding bouquet. I tell my girls that heaven smells like gardenias.
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I carried them in my bouquet, also. And dh had one in his boutounierre, and I had a bunch on my going away wrist corsage. The aroma is heavenly. I have grown them indoors in this Zone, but they are finicky. My grandmother had huge bushes of gardenia in Houston.
I was at Disney World a few weeks ago and one of my highlights was the flora of the parks. In Magic Kingdom the gardenia fragrance filled the air. Dh knew to keep taking me back to "my gardenias".
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Jennifer G. Miller
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JennGM
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Cay Gibson wrote:
Posted a little gift for all of you who either don't have them or can't grow them.
You'll have to scroll down a little. Wish you could smell them.
Gardens in Bloom |
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And thank you for the little gift -- the sweet girl and the flower -- Perfect!
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Jennifer G. Miller
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Cay Gibson
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JennGM wrote:
I was at Disney World a few weeks ago and one of my highlights was the flora of the parks. In Magic Kingdom the gardenia fragrance filled the air. Dh knew to keep taking me back to "my gardenias". |
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Ah, Disney World and gardenias in bloom. A little touch of heaven on earth.
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Cay Gibson
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Donna Marie
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We spent our honeymoon in Disney World. (Did you know you get TWINS there....ahem, I digress...)
They gave me a gardenia to put in my hair at one of the night shows...on the way back to our room I was wondering why my eyes were so itchy and I was starting to sneeze more and more....yep, that's me. Sooo romantic...beautiful flower...beautiful allergies I really did like the smell, but it didn't like me 
I wonder if it is just that I am not used to it ....hmmm
Jenn, what you said about the qualities of the flower and the qualities of the Blessed Mother are so very true.
And as we tend to these flowers...we think of a person (Mary)...as we weed the garden (weeds=sin) it becomes a meditation... we allow these beautiful flowers to grow and become what the Creator originally intended them to be...and so it goes on from there...
Thanks for the pic Cay! both of your flowers are very sweet!
God Love you!
Donna Marie from NJ
hs momma to 7dc
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chicken lady
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Cay just seeing this,,,,,absolutly priceless! She puts a smile on my face just looking at her dear face 
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4Real Forums : Domestic Church
Topic: Mary flowers revisited
