April is blossom time here at Orchard Oast Flowers. We are blessed with an avenue of cherry blossom and crab apple trees to welcome you along our drive, and beautiful apple and pear blossom trees in our orchard too. The winter perennials are rapidly going to seed, but offer interesting shapes and textures for floral designs, such as hellebores with their glorious seed capsules, included in our Easter arrangement celebrating seasonal blooms. Alongside the more delicate shades of blossom, the vibrant pinks of our tulips have been bursting open too.
Blossom flowers always look so delicate, yet they often have to withstand strong spring winds and heavy showers at this time of year. We have created flower essences from our blossom, and the characteristics of these gentle yet mighty flowers is reflected in their healing qualities (see these essences are the end of this blog).
Just standing under this Umbrella Cherry blossom tree feels uplifting. This essence was created from the blossom which was left cascading in its beauty after an unexpected spring gale had passed through the garden. I had fully expected all the blossom to be blown away overnight, but next morning, the flowers were nearly all intact. Umbrella Cherry helps you stand strong in the face of adversity, to stand firm in your Truth and in lightness regardless of what is thrown at you or is going on around you.
I have written about the healing language of nature and flowers in my other blogs. There is more and more focus on the healing benefits of being in nature. Horticultural therapy is on the increase as well as gardening for wellbeing to help people with life issues such as mental illness and depression. Yet we are only dealing with a part of the story on mental health and related issues if we concern ourselves with just the physical presence of nature or activities which engage us in some way with gardens and nature.
Depression means we are cut off from our soul forces – the soul forces which Dr Edward Bach referred to in his years of research and study when pioneering his Bach Flower Remedies. Flower remedies are ancient medicines, not just from the 1920s and Dr Bach’s time. Many of the great teachers in history – Paracelsus, Hippocrates – taught that mind, body and soul are one, and are not separate. Dr Bach believed that all dis-
All of nature holds a library of soul wisdom which we recognise just by being in nature, by looking at nature or having anything to do with the natural world. Even looking at pictures of flowers has been scientifically proven to uplift people’s mood. Our work with flowers under the umbrella title of Flower Therapy embraces many forms to bridge the connection between mind and soul. Flower essences offer a gentle yet profound connection with nature and help us especially when we cannot be in nature, or are facing situations where our mind has locked us into a pattern of being cut off from our own intuitive soul forces – from our own ‘inner nature’.
Flowers adorn every part of our planet, for a reason. And we share flowers at key stages of life, give them when people feel low, are unwell. Instinctively we know flowers will lift someone’s spirits.
In light of this, let pictures of our spring tulips and blossom uplift you, and remind you that nature waits patiently to help all of humanity step out of the blinkered perspective of the mind alone, to open vistas of the soul which enable us to celebrate life and appreciate ourselves and our planet together.
Our seasonal blossom essences can also help create a bridge to your own inner nature, click on the picture for more details and to buy: