For the month of October we are exploring the language and sentiment of these three floras: Verbena, Lavender, and Rosemary.

Why you ask? Well dear loves, it is our small homage to one of our most beloved movies of all time, Practical Magic, a movie about sisterhood, friendships, love, and of course a bit of practical magic all set in an idyllic New England town.

Verbena was the name of Sally Owens' beautiful apothecary shop in the movie filled with lotions, balms, and creams she handcrafted with herbs and flowers from her garden. And lavender and rosemary are from the Owens' saying:

"Plant rosemary by your garden gate and lavender for luck..."

VERBENA / VERVAIN

Botanical Name, Verbena hastata

Class, Didynamia / Order, Angiospermia

Flowers, Blue or lavender colored

Native place, America or Europe

Sentiment: You Enchant Me, An Emblem of Enchantment

Origins of Sentiment & Tales of Verbena

Vervain, or wild verbena, has been the floral symbol of enchantment from time immemorial. It was styled "sacred herb" by the Greeks, who ascribed a thousand marvelous properties to it, not the least of which was its power of reconciling enemies.

Verbena was often used in various divinations, sacrifices, and incantations, and its specific name of verbena originally signified a herb used to decorate altars. 

It was much valued by the Druids, being regarded by them as only second to mistletoe: they used it largely in their divinations and casting of lots. During the middle ages the sacred character of this herb still reigned paramount and vervain was greatly prized and used in the composition of many charms and love-philtres.

In days of old, in country districts, old folks tie verbena around their necks to charm away the ague, with many it still has the reputation of securing affection from those who take it to those who administer it.

Verbena or vervain, this very common unassuming roadside flower, was the plant of spells and enchantments and still retains its enchanted reputation.

LAVENDER

Botanical Name, Lavandula spika

Class, Didynamia / Order, Gymnospermia

Flowers, Lilac approaching to purple and very fragrant

Native place, Europe and Africa

Sentiment: Acknowledgment of Love & sometimes also symbolizes Distrust

Origins of Sentiment & Tales of Lavender

Shakespeare hath said it, and who would wish to alter an emblem that has become immortal from his adoption? 

"She sent him Lavender, owning her love."

We have, therefore, adopted the sentiment.

There are many varieties of lavender but a common trait they all share is every part of the lavender plant is fragrant, some more potent than others. In ancient days the lavender plant was used in bathing and washing, the word lavender deriving from Latin, lavare, to wash.

The French are accountable for its association to mistrust as the fragrance of lavender was often used to mask other unpleasant odors. For centuries lavender has been used as a fragrance either deriving the oils from the lavender plant or simply as dried stems placed in trunks and drawers.

ROSEMARY

Botanical Name, Rosmarinus officinalis

Class, Diandria / Order, Monogynia

Flowers, Purple, growing in an axil

Native place, Europe

Sentiment: Remembrance

Origins of Sentiment & Tales of Rosemary

We are indebted Shakespeare for this junction of flower and sentiment from Ophelia: 

"There is Rosemary, that's for remembrance, Pray you, love, remember."

Frequently entwined with laurel and myrtle, rosemary was formed into chaplets, with which the principal personages at feasts were crowned. 

In some parts of England during funerals, for a time, it was still customary to distribute it among the company, who frequently threw sprigs of it into the grave and slips of it were sometimes placed within the coffin.

In days of yore, rosemary was in great request at Christmas-tide for decorative purposes, the roast beff was decorated with bays and rosemary. The silvery leaves of this plant mingled well with the glossy holly and yellow-green mistletoe in decking rooms and churches.

During the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, this fragrant herb grew in abundance along the walls of Hampton Court Palace, but then was banished to reside only in the kitchen-gardens.

Now this plant is often cultivated in sweet cottage gardens for bees to resort to and for culinary reasons.

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Sources: Flower Symbolica by Ingram, John H. 1887 / The Language of Flowers by Saunders & Otley, 1841, London

Perhaps these painted works will inspire you to create your own floral arrangements for your home to adorn your tables, mantles, and bedside stands.

I am someone who is very interested in colour – and by that, I mean bright colour, gay colour; but at the same time, if you are a colourist, you like quiet colour as well and I think this love of gay colour is contrasted in my mind with this love of whites and greys. - Anne Redpath

Since we couldn't shoot outdoors due to the weather, we decided to create our own woodland meadow for our mini lookbook photoshoot with our model Bailey last week. 

For the "Meadow"

We used a combination of dried flowers and silk flowers to create the meadow using long foam pieces that are held up by a thin black tray. We get our supplies from a florist supply wholesale market here in Poland, (+48)355712125, so I am not sure if the same materials would be available at your local craft store. 

For the "Woodland Branch"

I was gifted this beautiful moss covered branch by a shop friend of mine who sadly is closing her shop due to Covid-19. Hannah attached silk blooms and dried flowers and faux ivy greens (though I realized I have SO MUCH ivy growing in front of my house, I should have brought it!) with thin florist wire to the branch.

Putting It All Together

The "Meadow" pieces were easily moveable and adjustable during our shoot because they were on the black trays. We attached the branch on one of our vintage ladders in the studio mostly because we needed a way to bring the branch up higher than our model, but then actually found we liked how the set look with the vintage ladder in the photos. Initially I was just going to shoot the photos with the ladder out of frame or we were going to suspend the branch from one of the beams in the ceiling. But it all worked out and our test model (Redford) approved of the entire set. He even asked if he could put on a little crown of flowers so he could really "get into character", I swear, that guy. So extra. Here is a sneak peek from our mini lookbook shoot with Bailey! We loved how our indoor woodland meadow turned out!

 What is also wonderful about this arrangement is most of the ingredients will dry quite prettily if you process them before the arrangement gets too wilted. Stock flowers tend to dry very delicately. To dry the flowers, take apart the arrangement and tie together in stems of 3-5 with a rubber band and dry them hanging upside down. If you dry them against a wall, the flowers on the back will flatten, so try to suspend them where the blooms can just hang down freely.

A few years ago on one of my many varied antique haunts I came across  a set of paperback books from England featuring flowers that bloom throughout the season. Oh, what an absolute delight it was for me to find this! My collection of floral related books in my "vintage library" is quite small but the books I do have I really adore and wanted to start sharing them with all of you here at mypiggywiggy.

My love for all things fashion history, flowers, and literature can be summed up in my collection of old books. It is my hope and desire to begin sharing my library with all of you. So far this is the only post, but in time I will share snippets of the other books I own that are related to fashion history, flowers, women's roles and expectations through the lens of history (I love these books best, they're quite funny to read at times!), and also books with poems and short stories. 

But for now, let us turn our attentions to "Flowers That Bloom in Summer", Book 1 of a series of 4 (Spring is the 4th book) in celebration of the fact that summer is very soon upon us (the Summer solstice is June 20th!) which interestingly enough only lists June and July as summer months and does not include August.

This book was published in 1949 and was made and printed in Great Britain. I of course did not find these books while I was in England (I actually can't recall where exactly I found these) but I do wonder about the woman who originally purchased these, perhaps she was British and immigrated to America with the aftermath of World War II. 

I love to ponder about the history of books and objects and their owners and their stories as much as I like to imagine the lives led by the women who wore the vintage garments I sell in the shop... be still my nostalgic loving heart.

Who was this woman!? And how could I become more like her?

These are photos from the delightful book "Tasha Tudor's Garden" with text by Tovah Martin and absolutely exquisite photos by Richard W. Brown. The book was first published in 1994 by Houghton Mifflin Company. I found a copy of this book at a local antique shop and sadly it does not have the cover. 

It was very difficult for me to narrow down which photos from the book I wanted to share as the entire book is filled with such gorgeous imagery that I found myself wishing beyond hope that I could insert myself into the pages and be among Tasha's garden that is lost in time.

The book is divided into monthly/seasonal sections and describes all the ways Tasha prepares and works her garden and the different blooms and flowers that grow in her secluded south Vermont property. Throughout the book are little quips and quotes from Tasha which reveals to the reader how proud Tasha is of her garden and how immodest she is about the different rare varieties her garden boasts. You will also find many of Tasha's floral illustrations peppered throughout the book featuring flowers from her garden.

Coming from a generational family of gardeners, it is in Tasha's blood to have such a golden green thumb and throughout the book you are told the great lengths Tasha has gone through to procure rare seeds and flowers.

“I enjoy solitude. It's probably selfish, but why bother about it. Life is much too important, as Oscar Wilde said, to be taken seriously. I feel so sorry for those mothers who are devastated by loneliness when their children fly the coop and don't want to live at home anymore. They feel lost, but look what exciting things can be done. Life isn't long enough to do all you could accomplish. And what a privilege to be alive. In spite of all the pollutions and horrors, how beautiful this world is. Supposing you only saw the stars once every year. Think what you would think. The wonder of it!” - Tasha Tudor

Below are some beautiful paintings mostly from the 19th century of women florists or just women with flowers. As Christian Dior said, "After women, flowers are the most divine creations..." 

Both paintings above are by French painter Victor Gabriel Gilbert who loved to paint market scenes and everyday life in Paris. 

The Language of Flowers in the Victorian Era

Step 1: Gather Thy Blooms

Dried flowers are much easier to source than you may think! Chances are if you are an mypiggywiggy girl... you probably have several bouquets lovingly saved and peppered throughout your home. If you do not, visit your local craft store or come and visit our brick n' mortar shop in Poland, (+48)355712125, Oregon and pick your own dried stems from our dried flower bar!

*TIP - Try to choose complimentary colors and stems and blooms that have balance and harmony when all together

Step 2: Tools & Supplies

You will need some twine, rope, or florist tape, a pair of sharp scissors, and sheets of tissue paper. The papers we use to wrap our mini blooms are actually recycled and reused from the many shipments we receive from the brands we work with! You will also need ribbons!

A word on ribbons... because these dried flower bouquets are so small, a bit of spare ribbon will go quite a long ways! We have used ribbons salvaged from antique garments and vintage dresses, ribbons from vintage hats that can no longer be worn, we've made strips of ribbons from silk tops and dresses no longer suitable for wearing... 

Step 3: A thoughtful arrangement...

Begin to arrange your mini bouquet piece by piece flat on your work surface. You may need to eliminate certain blooms and stems if they do not work with the overall appearance of the bouquet. Do no worry about cutting the ends of your stems right now, you will do that soon! The most important part of this step is to lay out the tops of your blooms in a way that delights you!

Step 4: Tie the blossoms...

Once you have an arrangement that you like, tie the blooms together with your twine or with florist tape. Note that you will have some minor casualties are dried blooms can be quite delicate and bits will naturally fall away.

Step 5: Trim the stems

Once your blooms are tied with string, take a sharp pair of scissors and trim the ends so they are all nice and even.

Step 6: Prepare to wrap thy bundle...

Wrap your mini bundle of dried blooms with the tissue. The best way to do this is to fold the tissue so it's nearly a square shape. Then position the top of the bouquet on the corner.

Step 7: Swaddle the bonny blooms

Next you will finish wrapping your bouquet similar to swaddling a wee little babe. Fold up the corner of the paper where the bottom of the stems point towards. Then take the left side of the paper and fold over towards the center and do the same to the right side of the paper.

Step 8: Final touches

When you are done wrapping your blooms, you may want to adjust the paper tissue a bit and have the tissue fan out a little or you might want to adjust so it all looks lovely and presentable. If you do not like how the paper wrapping is looking, you can always revert back to Step 6 and Step 7. When you are satisfied with the wrapping, finish off your mini dried flower bouquet with a bit of ribbon. Sometimes we like to add vintage inspired labels and stickers (the some of the ones pictured below) for an ephemeral touch.

And that is all! Well done, dear friends! Below is a handy step-by-step guide on how to create these charming little dried mini flower bouquets that you can save to Pinterest and refer back to as needed...

I do hope you enjoyed reading this journal entry as much as I found joy in putting it together and taking the photos of all the steps... do leave us a comment if you found this post valuable and if you have questions about the crafting process... I shall do my best to help you!

Gather what dried flowers you may already have near you (we always have some ready at hand for just some such occasion) or pluck some twiggy, hardy blooms and lay them on a table before you (wildflowers dry most prettily).

Find some plain parchment - gift wrapping paper works well for it's thickness - and tape to match. You want to find materials that are simple enough to allow for your little arrangements to truly shine. Cut the paper into even square sheets, though their edges need not be perfect. Use one for each cone, and wrap with a corner pointing upward so it cradles the height of the blooms just so. Fasten your tape, and admire. 

A day of contemplation and whimsical crafting brought us this bounty of flower cones. Make one for each of your friends, your neighbors, whoever in your life that could use a little reminder that the world is full with opportunities of joy and beauty, if only you open your hands and heart to them. Before sending them off to their new homes, arrange them all together in a small basket for you to cherish.