Zinnias represent thoughts of absent friends, daisies mean innocence and hope, ferns represent sincerity, spring crocuses represent youthful gladness — the list goes on and on.
If you garden, and especially if you are an ornamental gardener, you may be aware that many plants we use have interesting histories, traditions, backgrounds from folklore and symbolism attached.
Some examples are zinnias, which represent thoughts of absent friends; daisies mean innocence and hope; ferns represent sincerity; spring crocuses represent youthful gladness — the list goes on and on.
You will often see evergreen trees on top of new building construction. The tree is an ancient tradition. What’s particularly charming is the tree isn’t associated with the beginning or the end of construction. Rather, it’s associated with the raising of a building’s highest beam or structural element.
Hence the name of the rite: the topping-out ceremony. It’s a sign that a construction project has reached its literal apogee, its most auspicious point. I have always found that symbolism particularly interesting because construction is such a precise procedure associated with engineering and major trade skills — not fields with which one would normally associate any symbolism or superstition.
Initially, the first topping-out ceremonies didn’t use trees. In eighth-century Scandinavia, sheathes of grain were the plant material of choice. But as topping-out ceremonies spread throughout northern Europe, trees were a natural evolution. This shows how ceremonial plant uses can change over time.
If you grow poppies in your flower garden, you know they are beautiful, graceful and colorful plants. Poppies also represent one of our most important national holidays: Memorial Day.
For military veterans and their families, the two most prominent holidays are Veterans Day and Memorial Day. They are also the most important military recognition holidays for the country as a whole.
The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs defines the two holidays in this way:
Memorial Day is a day for remembering and honoring military personnel who died in the service of their country, particularly those who died in battle or as a result of wounds sustained in battle. While those who died are also remembered, Veterans Day is the day set aside to thank and honor all those who served honorably in the military — in wartime or peacetime. In fact, Veterans Day is largely intended to thank living veterans for their service, to acknowledge that their contributions to our national security are appreciated and to underscore the fact that all those who served — not only those who died — have sacrificed and done their duty.
Sometimes the purposes of Memorial Day and Veterans Day are confused in the public’s eye. Memorial Day is always celebrated in May, and Veterans Day is always in November. Both holidays are closely associated with World War I. World War I ended on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918, so Veterans Day falls on Nov. 11.
The poppy association for Memorial Day comes from the poem “In Flanders Field,” written during World War I by Canadian physician and Lt. Col. John McCrae. He was inspired to write it May 3, 1915, after presiding over the funeral of friend and fellow soldier Alexis Helmer, who died during the Second Battle of Ypres.
In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below
We are the Dead. Short days ago,
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved, and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.
Please remember those who served and gave so much all year ’round and not just on the designated days. I hope when you see a poppy growing you will remember and understand.
Don Dreyer is a Master Gardener with Penn State Extension — Beaver County.