Favorite Flower

What's your favorite flower?

Hmmm.... mine are:

Forget-me-not (aka myosotis)
link picture: http://www.nztramping.com/NZTrampingBlog/images/Forget-me-not.jpg

Meaning in the language of flowers: True or faithful love, hope, remembrance, and memories.

Folklore and legend:

According to Christian lore when God was walking through the Garden of Eden after the Creation, He noticed a small blue flower and asked its name. The flower, overcome by shyness, whispered, 'I am afraid I have forgotten, Lord.' God answered, 'Forget Me not. Yet I will not forget thee.'

The Christ Child was sitting on Mary's lap one day and said that he wished that future generations could see her eyes. He touched her eyes and then waved his hand over the ground and blue forget-me-nots appeared, hence the name forget-me-not.

According to legend, a young man and his sweetheart were walking beside the Danube when they came across some blue flowers that grew on an islet in the stream. The man leapt into the river to pluck them for her, regardless of the current and the protest of the girl. He crossed safely, plucked the flowers and was almost at the bank again when he was wrung by a cruel cramp, and could not hold his way against the whirl and surge of the rapid. He looked into the white face of his beloved, and flung the bouquet at her feet with his last strength, cried, ~Forget me not!~ and disappeared. She never forgot him, and wore the flowers in her hair until her own death.

Another legend tells of a wayfarer in a lonely valley who sees a flower at his feet he had never before seen. He picked the flower, and immediately the mountainside opened. He entered and saw rich stores of gold and precious gems. He began to gather them, but dropped the little flower, which murmured faintly, ~forget-me-not.~ The wayfarer was so intent on the possessions before him, he ignored the plea. The rift in the mountain began to close, and he barely had time to escape. But, alas! the little flower that had opened the treasure-cave was lost forever.

A knight was said to be choosing some flowers for his sweetheart, who was walking with him, when he fell into the river, due to the weight of his armor; the knight is said to have thrown the blue flowers to his sweetheart on the river bank crying, "Forget-Me-Not".

Sweet.

In Evangeline, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote,

Silently, one by one, in the infinite meadows of Heaven,
Blossom the lovely stars, the forget-me-nots of the angels.

In his 1947 long poem "Notes Toward a Supreme Fiction," Wallace Stevens mentions the forget-me-not, using its scientific Greek-derived name:

...It observes the effortless weather turning blue
And sees the myosotis on its bush."

Keith Douglas, 1920–1944, wrote his poem "Vergissmeinnicht" (Forget-me-not) about a dead German soldier in World War II whose body is found by the poet with a photograph of his girl with her words written "Steffi. Vergissmeinnicht" but it's not believed by some people.[citation needed]

J.R.R. Tolkien refers to the flower in his poems. The character of Tom Bombadil is said to have the colour of the flower on his jacket (Lord of the Rings, chapter seven, book I).

:) FAVORITE!

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Jonquil
link picture: http://theakumalian.com/images/2011/3-2011/jonquil1%5B1%5D.jpg

Flower meaning: "Have pity on my passion," and "I desire a return of affection," or simply, "Return my affection."

This comes from the family of Amaryllidaceae.Its scientific name is Narcissus jonquilla.

Trivia:

Native to Spain and Algeria. It is the favorite flower of Queen Anne. She wove patterns of jonquil blossoms in her delicate needlework which included carpets, tapestry and dresses. She was inspired by her love of jonquils to establish Kensington Palace Gardens, the first public gardens in England.

Legend/Myth:

A Greek myth relates the story of Proserpina. While she gathering lilies, she was kidnapped by the god Pluto who carried her to the underworld. As Pluto carried Proserpina, she dropped the lilies. As the lilies fell to earth, they became daffodils, hanging their heads for Proserpina's sorrow.

Second favorite! :)

Well, how about yours? :3