Monday, May 20, 2013

Quote du jour/Gladys Taber

Lily of the valley ... with every tiny pearl-colored bell so carefully wrought. I was brought up to believe the faeries rang them at night, and for all I know, they still do.
Gladys Taber
Stillmeadow Seasons 1950



27 comments:

  1. I think lily of the valley is one of my favorite flowers or possibly it's just because they bloom now. One nice thing is that they grow well in shade and spread to encompass shady spots where I can't grow anything else.

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    1. With lily of the valley and lilacs side by side, my cup of fragrance runneth over. I've found that violets are happy in the shade, as well. Do you have any?

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  2. Love the smell of these sweet flowers, but not a fan of the way they seem to spread.

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    1. They can't spread enough as far as I'm concerned! :<)

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  3. Fully agree there with you, Nan, where the spreading is concerned, and the same goes for the fairies ringing them!

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  4. I so agree with Gladys. I think the fairies are busy every night and the bells toll daintily. Mmmm I can almost smell the lilac in your header photo.

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    1. You weren't imagining things, Lisa, I smelled the lilacs, too. Well, maybe they were the ones outside my window but for a second there I thought Facebook had a new app.

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  5. They certainly are the flowers of fairies! When I was little my grandfather played the mandolin and he sang an old hymn Lily of the valley all the time so I've always loved these flowers

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  6. I walked around the back of my garden the other day when it was hot and still and was overwhelmed by the scent of the lily of the valley. My favorite perfumes are all based in part on this flower.

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    1. No perfume can quite match it though, can it?!

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  7. Are there more perfect scents than these two?
    We spent part of Mother's Day at Lilacia Park in Lombard, with holds acres upon acres of lilacs, most of which were in bloom. It is an absolute treasure of a park, designed by Olmstead, in the Chicago suburbs.
    My lily of the valley are blooming now; their scent intoxicating as I wander about. Our Jennifer carried lily of the valley for her bridal bouquet; sweet, elegant, memorable. Friends still comment about how she looked, and how the scent of the flowers seemed to follow her down the aisle. Oh, dear, now I'm getting all teary and sentimental, Nan, as their anniversary is tomorrow. I must send her this Gladys Taber quote.

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    1. What a wonderful, wonderful idea for a park.
      Such a nice memory of your girl's wedding. I just love it.

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  8. Always think of my grandmother when I see or smell these flowers, she loved them. She used a perfume, 'muguet du bois', so going to her wardrobes and looking at her clothes was always to be associated with the scent for me it all seemed very exotic to the tiny girl that was me.
    I agree Nan, lilly of the valley and lilacs are the best of companions.
    c.

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    1. I looked it up, and it is still available!! I had an aunt who kept perfumes (didn't use them) and I found them most exotic, as you did. I wish I had gotten them when she died. I bet they were just thrown out. :<(

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  9. How quickly your season catches up with ours! A whie ago, all our daffodila were flowering while your garden was still snowy. Now you have Lily of the Valley and lilac at the same time we do. In fact, your lilac may be ahead of ours, as everything here is a month late this year.

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    1. And our lilacs are a week early, even though May has been mostly cool and cloudy.

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  10. Can't you just hear Gladys saying this? And talking about her unicorn? When they play that game of "Who would you have for dinner if you could have anyone?", Gladys Taber would be on my list. Want to join us, Nan?

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  11. I used to love finding these beauties buried under the mulch (leaves) when I went out to clean up the flower beds for spring. And of course they are another flower I never get to see any more ever.

    And I believe the fairies still do!

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    1. Maybe the secret for you is to be somewhere more 'spring-like' in springtime, at least once every few years?!

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