-01_March 21, 2012 - Abundance of Beauty - Azaleas and Rhododendron.htm

MOTHER'S GARDEN - March 21, 2012

Abundance of Beauty

Azaleas and Rhododendron

Jet lag is over, five months of mail sorted out, taxes sent in, suitcases unpacked and now – into Mother’s Garden. This is the earliest onset of Spring I can remember. Temperatures have been in the low 80's (28C) for days and everything is breaking dormancy.

Bird song fills the air from early morning. The deep red Cardinals fly into the bushes bordering the road to build their homes in the haven of Mother’s Garden. Twice now I have watched the Great Blue Heron skim just above the water, going from one side of the lake to the other where he has his residence. Young rabbits scamper for cover under the ever watchful eyes of the hawks. Fledglings are leaving the nest and all the earth speaks of the beauty of renaissance.

It is a time too of butterflies, alighting softer than the fall of the lightest feather onto the nectarous cups of blossoms.There is a beautiful line in Savitri "Pranked butterflies, the conscious flowers of air," and indeed, in their coats of red and black, yellow, white and orange,, pale blue and more they grace the day with their presence.

I once wrote to Mother in the earliest days of the Matrimandir Gardens Nursery when our plants were constantly being attacked by caterpillars and all kinds of insects, the following:

"Are there forces directly hostile to vegetal nature? Are insects a manifestation of these forces?" Mother replied: "There do not seem to exist forces consciously and voluntarily hostile to the vegetal kingdom. Insects do harm because they feed on plants, but in this way they serve them also; both things are there, good and bad, without any conscious will. They do good, they do harm, without knowing it."

This is the first article on Mother’s Garden but there will be many more to follow. Visitors come to commune with Nature, inhale the fragrance of the flowers, work in the Garden and enjoy the peace, beauty and delight found here. All are welcome to this small paradise offered to Mother and Sri Aurobindo.

The life of the enchanted globe became
A storm of sweetness and of light and song,
A revel of colour and of ecstasy,
A hymn of rays, a litany of cries:
A strain of choral priestly music sang
And, swung on the swaying censer of the trees,
A sacrifice of perfume filled the hours.
Asocas burned in crimson spots of flame,
Pure like the breath of an unstained desire
White jasmines haunted the enamoured air,
Pale mango-blossoms fed the liquid voice
Of the love-maddened coïl, and the brown bee
Muttered in fragrance mid the honey-buds.
The sunlight was a great god's golden smile.
All Nature was at beauty's festival.

Sri Aurobindo

Savitri - Book IV - The Book of Birth and Quest

Canto I - The Birth and Childhood of the Flame Page 352

The uniquely coloured Flowering Peach is in full bloom and given centre stage.

Flowering Peach

White dogwood with red azaleas

Now with the onrush of an early spring the dogwood trees are budding and showing their first flowers. The dogwood has deep symbolism in Christianity for it is said to be the tree on which Christ was crucified. Legend has it that no dogwood will ever again attain sufficient size to be used as a cross. The tips of the petals seem to be stained with blood. What is the spiritual significance of the dogwood?

There are many flowers from temperate climates that still await our understanding to reveal their essential significance. Who amongst us will achieve the deep inner contact with flowers and by a mental approximation give us the message with which they vibrate. Men have given obvious 'Common names' to flowers. We have such examples as 'Lady Slipper Orchid' or 'Woman's tongue tree' in allusion to the seed pods that clatter in the wind. These are, in most cases, trite, for it is rare that a 'Common name' coincides with the true significance of a flower. One example is Tulsi, of the Oregano family, used in devotional offerings for centuries, and indeed the significance as revealed by Mother, is 'Devotion".

Here are some very beautiful flowers, only groundcovers, as yet unnamed

Phlox subulata – Creeping phlox –

Carpets of blue and pink - One of the earliest plants to flower in Spring.

Japanese Anemone

Pristine white blossoms in great profusion sway in the slightest breeze.

Above – Geranium (not Pelargonium Spiritual Happiness) but a true species Geranium, now available in a number of shades. An excellent groundcover.

Lemon thyme on a bank above the Japanese iris

Ajuga reptans – Another worthy and hardy fast growing groundcover

Mazus reptans – a groundcover than can withstand light foot traffic

Blue Star Creeper – Laurentia fluviatilis between the stepping stones.

Flowers are the prayers of the vegetal kingdom.

Blessings

Mother

The early azaleas are almost in full flower, weeks ahead of schedule. The azalea is classified in the Rhododendron genus (members of the 'Heath' gamily) and though distinctive in flower size and pattern, plant habit, etc. they have both been given the significance, "Abundance of Beauty" by The Mother. Below the differences can be clearly seen.

I have walked among the flowers in Mother's Garden today, enchanted by their fragrances and their abundant offering. Their entire life is an aspiration for light. Weeds, too, are the earth's blanket and without them we would soon have deserts. My horticulture teacher was fond of saying,

"A weeds is simply a plant out of place." But now they are covering the emerging Chrysanthemums, "Life Energy" and I must remove them.

Lastly, this Haiku from Teijii

"A flowering weed;
Hearing its name,
I looked anew at it."
Teiji

Abundance of Beauty

Mother’s comment in Her own hand