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Scottish Blooms
Valentine's Day comes around every year and this gives us an excuse to devote a blog to Scotland's flora and fauna and lend some inspiration to a bouquet if you are considering gifting someone special, or planning a wedding later in the year.
The Rose
The rose has long been a classic symbol of romance and love and receiving a bouquet of roses on Valentine’s Day sends a certain message, however we would challenge you to go against the grain and choose something more personal. The colour of rose you receive says something, with red signifying passionate love, which may be why most of the roses sold for Valentine’s Day are red. In tartan terms red signifies luxury as it was difficult and expensive to achieve with natural dyes, and as such was worn by royalty, hence the Stewart Royal tartan, so perhaps you should opt for an ever-lasting flower and give a Rose Brooch in this tartan? Three roses stand for “I love you.” Eleven stems express the thought “I am the missing stem to make the dozen perfect.” Three-dozen long-stemmed roses mean “My heart belongs to you.”
The Thistle
Most popular in a bouquet and particularly at this time of year when the weather is terrible and flowers are not exactly abundant in Scotland, the hardy Thistle makes a beautiful focal point for a bouquet and is very popular for buttonholes and table decorations as a stand alone flower or surrounded by other greenery. Narcissus in Edinburgh helped us create a few beautiful examples for our Scottish Flowers episode of On the Sofa last year and they used combinations of broom, junista, rosemary and eucalyptus to great effect, not to mention the amazing, zingy, fresh scent.
The Thistle is Scotland’s national flower so we thought we should round up a few facts about this prickly beauty:
1. Saviour of Scots Warriors
It seems hard to believe but we do love the story that a sleeping party of Scots warriors were saved from ambush by an invading Norse army when one of the enemies approaching under cover of darkness trod on the prickly, purple plant. His shrieks of pain woke the sleeping warriors who were able to mount an attack against the invaders, and following their victory adopted the thistle as their national symbol.
2. The Order of the Thistle
The Most Ancient Order of the Thistle was founded in 1687 by James III and awarded to individuals recognised to have made an outstanding contribution to the life of Scotland and the wider UK. Today Her Majesty the Queen is the only person able to bestow this honour and it is second only to the Most Noble Order of the Garter in precedence. (In case like me you were unaware of the Order of the Garter, it is an order of chivalry founded by Edward III of England in 1348.)
In 1642 the Scots Guards adopted the thistle as their regimental emblem. Their cap badge has the St Andrew's cross overlying a multi-rayed star with a central circlet bearing the motto NEMO ME IMPUNE LACESSIT (None provokes me with impunity or much better in Scots "‘Wha daur meddle wi me?") enclosing a thistle. In 1916 officers of 1st Battalion began to wear a patch of Royal Stewart tartan either side of the badge on service dress caps and the practice continues to this day.
3. Many varieties, but which one is official?
There are several varieties of thistle to be found in Scotland and really no-one is quite sure which one is the true symbol. The spear thistle, the pernicious creeping thistle, the marsh thistle (which loves the damp Scottish climate) and the melancholy thistle (not as sad looking as it sounds) which is the variation you see in upland grassland and on the banks of burns (streams).
4. Poetic inspiration
Forget A Red, Red Rose, Rabbie Burns' ode to romantic love, our favourite purple plant is also the centrepiece of Hugh MacDiarmid's famous and influential poem A Drunk Man Looks at the Thistle, 2685 lines of stream-of-consciousness poetry that touches on everything from the state of the nation and the mysteries of the universe to the wondrous joy that is whisky.
Definitely essential reading if you are planning a trip to Scotland.
5. Spot the thistle
Our Scottish emblem pops up all over the place, in gardens, parks and in the countryside. And this iconic plant is also used as a logo for our international rugby team, many football clubs, businesses and other organisations, and even on the uniforms of our police officers. In 1607 the thistle appeared on a silver coin and in 1984 on a £1 coin.
Flowers are very important in Scottish history for many reasons. First of all every clan has their own plant badge, usually a sprig of a specific plant worn in a bonnet behind the Scottish crest badge, or pinned at the shoulder of a tartan sash. Used to identify a member of a particular Scottish clan can you imagine being in full battle and this being how you spot if someone is friend or foe? The Jacobite's famously wore their variation of the clan badge and had a "White Cockade" (a bunch of white ribbon) to identify themselves.
Scottish Heather
That purple Scottish flower - it's heather! Hardy and found all over the place as it copes well with the poor acidic soils often found in the Highlands. There are two main types of heather – Calluna or common heather (sometimes referred to as ‘ling’) and Erica (sometimes called ‘bell heather’).
Centuries ago heather was used as bedding and is also renowned for its herbal or medicinal properties helping those who suffer from rheumatism. I love this quote from old herbalists and think it might be time to have a night on the heather just to see if it is true and I will wake up restored and ready to face the day: ‘they who lie down at night faint and weary’ on a heather bed, ‘rise in the morning active and lively’.
White heather renowned for bringing good luck is actually a mutation of the better known purple heather. As with all things Scottish there is a folk-myth to explain it's origin as the places where the tears of Malvina, daughter of the Celtic bard Ossian, fell after she had learned of the death of her lover in battle. And of course this is where the name of the "White Heather Club" Ceilidh nights derives it's name, where the last Thursday of every month we dance the night away at Bonnie & Wild in the St James Centre in Edinburgh.
So there may be no beautiful Scottish Bluebells at this time of year to add to a Valentine's bouquet but there are still plenty of options to create something amazing using in season flowers and greenery. Pop over to the Narcissus website if you want some Greek god inspiration and a story behind every creation.
