GATHER YE ROSEBUDS WHILE YE MAY

Gerber Daisies, Caspia and Foxglove

One Day Later

Dearest Readers,
I laugh when I see the utter collapse of the gerber daisies in the picture above. Being pretty, tall, succulent, and pink for one full day was just too much for them. They remind me of people who try too hard to please... or how I feel sometimes when putting on a happy face against all odds becomes impossible.

Here are two Ikebana arrangements of thistle-like flowers with a hint of blue-gray combined with my tried and true evergreen sprigs and a low spray of nearly dried nandina. They've been green and perky for weeks on my windowsill. Let's hear it for the tough girls!

Thistle, and Evergreen

Thistle, Nandina, Evergreen

Gather Ye Rosebuds While Ye May
(To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time)
 

Gather ye rosebuds while ye may,
Old Time is still a-flying:
And this same flower that smiles today
To-morrow will be dying.

The glorious lamp of Heaven, the sun,
The higher he's a-getting,
The sooner will his race be run.
And nearer he's to setting.

That age is best which is the first,
When youth and blood are warmer;
But being spent, the worse, and worst
Times still succeed the former.

Then be not coy, but use your time,
And while ye may, go marry:
For having lost but once your prime,
You may for ever tarry.

-Robert Herrick

(1591-1674)