We love to celebrate the joy of a flower, but we often fail to appreciate the beauty of its next phase. The seed head. In my view one of the most beautiful seed heads, in terms of design and possessing an ethereal quality, is the dandelion dock. We loved them as children, holding the stem in our fingers, (having carefully picked it so as not to dislodge the individual seeds, the pappus) and then blowing, one o'clock, two o'clock, three o'clock ..... to discover the time. The seeds are borne away on their little parachutes and I always thought they looked like fairies!
This week I thought I would celebrate the dandelion clock, with the sun coming and going through the window!
Scatterseed, one of the many names given to dandelions in days gone by, is one of The Lost Words Spell Songs. It is a hauntingly beautiful collection of songs and here is the link to Scatterseed, sung by Chris Drever. If you haven't listened to Spell Songs yet, don't leave it too much longer!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4xfId64TNE
This week I thought I would celebrate the dandelion clock, with the sun coming and going through the window!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4xfId64TNE
I too love Dandelions and their seeds. And the vase you have chosen to go with them is 'just right'. ( I find the song a little solemn though for such a cheerful flower/)
ReplyDeleteI agree, the song is a little solemn, as are most of the Spell Songs, but they are still very beautiful and poignant - and true! Food for thought! Thank you for your message! A
DeleteDandelions are I agree a lovely flower, and the seed head has an ethereal feel about it. Lovely closeups and phtography.
ReplyDeleteThank you! I felt a bit mixed about producing a vase with no colour at such a colourful time of year, but I love the dandelion dock and just thought I would go with it!! A
DeleteThanks for reminding us of childhood delights. Those treasures are still available if we just look.
ReplyDeleteOh they certainly are! My childhood walks alongside me every day! A
DeleteWhat a lovely simple arrangement hearkening back to our childhood days when everything seemed simple and pure. I have never heard of it being referred to a dandelion clock before. I guess we don't have that tradition here. We used to take the seed heads or flower heads off and make them into a ring, and then linking all the dandelion stem rings together to make a chain. And we would also make a wish before blowing the seeds into the air.
ReplyDeleteI love hearing about your childhood tradition with dandelion docks (clocks!) Cindy. I hope there are little ones out there learning these little things. I know that I teach my grandchildren all that stuff ..... when I can see them! Lockdown still holding us grandmothers back! A
DeleteMy goodness, Amanda, you did well to get these into a vase intact! I agree with you about how fascinating they are and how perfectly formed by Nature to do their job - just a shame for us gardeners they do it so well! I was admiring hawkbit seedheads on one of my recent weeks - even bigger heads than these
ReplyDeleteThe ones I really go for, in a big way, are the docks of goat's beard! They are fabulous - I think! I nurture the plants whenever I find them self-seeded anywhere I am gardening! They seem to like my outer garden which is a sort of dry garden I have planted, running alongside the garden wall. Small insignificant flower but, boy, do they produce a fabulous seed head.! Buckminster Fuller may indeed have been inspired by them - who knows! A
DeleteWhat a work of engineering a dandelion clock is although nature does it far better than an engineer ever could. I wonder how many fairies escaped when you bought their homes in.
ReplyDeleteOh, lots!! A
DeleteDandelions seldom receive the acclaim they deserve. Thanks for sharing their magic, Amanda!
ReplyDeleteMy pleasure! A
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