Sunday, April 1, 2012

Chaste Tree

VITEX AGNUS CASTUS
Did you know?  Is it true?  Does it really mean that
 Chaste tree.  I know.  It's true.  And it really means that.  Yerba Luisa is the name I knew when I lived in my little tropical island.   The tradition is that a new bride receives a plant started from a slip from the bush her mother-in-law received from her mother-in-law and so on and so forth.  Planted by the front or back door, the beauty of the flowers is testimony to the beauty of the marriage.  Get it?  Your tree'd better be looking good...  Wonderful fragrant pinnated leaves, flower spikes that look like sprinkles from heaven.  My Greek neighbor explained that in her hilly country women place branches under their mattresses so that their husbands don't wander.  Another matrimonial tradition half around the world.  Grab a handful of leaves early in the morning, crush them and rub the perfumed bunch on your arms and neck and you will be lucky for the rest of the day.  Don't ask, just do it. 

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MEDITATION CAT

MEDITATION CAT
SERENITY IN THE GARDEN

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Moorestown, New Jersey, United States
Let's talk about our gardens. Let's talk about all the flowers and critters that thrive within the confines of our personal paradises. Let's talk about those we love and love us back, although once in a while they scratch us and make us bleed a little. Just to remind us that we are alive. Those roses and cats and people that thrive in our gardens... How important... How important they are...

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