About Me!

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Central, FL, United States
I am a former teacher, aspiring artist, inveterate traveler This blog is about my Florida garden experience and its expression though poetry, philosophy, photography and art. It includes my other creative endeavors. Here can be found posts about travel to other gardens around the world. My garden is a half acre in zone 9a which includes a large water garden. I have mostly a shade garden because of the huge live oak. To keep things easy, I love to grow bromiliads,ferns,gingers and other tropicals. I need to have a low maintenance garden. In the summer we usually have plenty of rain and it transforms into a jungle. I have converted my swamp into the water garden where I grow irises, waterlilies, papyrus, radigan, spikebush and swamp lily. I also grow citrus (lemon,key lime,grapefruit,tangerines,pineapple,and loquats). Me?...Often the prickly thorn produces tender roses. (Ovid)

Oct 11, 2012

eden lost








Whether you believe in Eden as an allegory or a literal fact, it records the history of mankinds journey from hunter/gathers to to a community of cultivators. Thus civilization was born.  In Eden nature provided the fruits and hopefully the veggies and it was good.  However God  understood the nature of  man was not to be alone. It was essential to form the bonds of love,friendship, and community to insure survival, heath, success and happiness. With the birth of consciousness ( the symbolic "knowledge of good and evil") and language, so became began the story of how plants and animals became changed by our selection and genetic engineering . And so we cultivated larger, disease resistant produce with more yield and sometimes less taste and more beautiful and varied specimens of beauty!!   In doing so we lost our "in the now' innocent nature and became uniquely human..with fear and worry about our future crop,our land or our  lovely orchid! And we became territorial  with all the "human" traits such as envy, lies, selfishness, and hate.  In our fragmented modern world we have lost the  community that came from an agricultural society.  Many are isolated from the intimacies of nature and the emotional benefits of gardening. We have a mobile society and are isolated ,stressed and lonely..The ancients knew about the importance of cultivating the soul as well as the mind. 

In ancient Ireland, the human heart was never complete without the companionship of others.The “Anam Cara” was originally someone to whom you confessed, revealing the hidden intimacies of your life...In Celtic Spiritual tradition, it is believed that the soul radiates all about the physical body what some refer to as an aura. When you connect with another person and become completely open, honest and trusting with that individual, your two souls begin to flow together.  The Celtic Anam Chara cuts across  space, time, matter and even death. With the Anam Cara, you could share your innermost self, without the superficiality of wearing a mask or pretension. Do you have one?   For they can provide seeds and cuttings to enrich your life.





some kind of aloe

Crinum asiaticum-Spider Lily



Coleus
Brugmansia~Angels Trumpet




Clerodendrum quadriloculare--shooting star




Clerodendrum paniculatum~Pagoda plant


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20 comments:

  1. So pretty, can't help with the ID's you don't have as I don't grow them here in NH...

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  2. What an interesting post!

    Your first photo might be a spider lily of some sort. I'm not real sure.

    The white flowering plant in photo across from your coleus, looks like the clerodendrum 'Musical Note'.

    You have some lovely bloomers there in your bit of paradise.

    FlowerLady

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  3. It's always interesting to go back in history and discover they struggled with the same questions we ask today.

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  4. Are the plants with the orange and gray blooms aloe plants? I agree with FlowerLady that the top picture is a spider/crinum lily of some kind (wish I could be more specific). That pagoda plant is beautiful!

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  5. Leslie how astute yes they are aloes ..I just dont know what king...they spread like crazy!!!!come get some!! thanks

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  6. Powerful post...we have come so far in some ways but like you said, have lost our sense of community. Makes you wonder what we are all moving so fast for. Love the shot of the Spider Lily!

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  7. Many things were lost when the old communities drifted apart and relocated in cities. One important loss lost was music making,and also instrument making,skills handed down through the generations.In Scottish farming communities,music and dance was an essential form of entertainment.
    The angels trumpets are amazing,Archangel would love one of these!

    Ruby

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  8. I intended to say Archangel Gabriel!

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  9. That's a beautiful shot of angel's trumpet, reminding me I need to try it again in the increasingly warmer Connecticut. Cheers.

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  10. I've never seen a Pagoda Plant. It just gorgeous! I hope this finds you getting ready for a wonderful weekend!:0)

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  11. Anonymous10/12/2012

    Great post and beautiful pictures. I especially love the trumpet plant.

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  12. What an interesting and thought-provoking post! Oh I didn't know about the Anam Chara. I've read on the spirituality of the Irish people only a little. As far as I know, the sense of Divine Presence in everything created seems to have given the people there an awareness of the Divine that penetrates in everything they experience; all the circumstances of life and various kinds of events, and so on and so forth. I want to read about the Anam Chara very much. Thanks a lot for posting this great post! Your flowers are really beautiful! Love the Crinum asiaticum-Spider Lily!!

    Harumi

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  13. Oh so beautiful the spider lily is. I got a cutting from my mother in law last sommer.Hope it will flower as nice as yours does!
    /Helena

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  14. Wow, that spider lily and the brug blooms are so impressive. They make me wish I lived in a warmer climate! Thanks for sharing your pictures.

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  15. Great post Sharon! I am now looking forward to Creative Studies even more! I loved your garden. I am so glad there are people like you in the world to remind us of the beauty of nature!

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  16. thanks Sharon for your visits on my blog!
    Geneviève de doubsjardin

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  17. I didn't read the entire post, busy,busy...If it's in the BOOK, I believe. Beautiful flowers..

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  18. Sharon, thank you for your comment.

    I can't follow you?

    Groet,

    Marieke.

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  19. Yes Marieke it is working now :-)

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