At Samhain 2007, I attended a requiem for the high priestess who taught me most of what I know about witchcraft.It was a beautiful ritual, for an amazing woman. At the end of the ceremony, I was given a small packet of sea holly seeds to plant in the memory of a this great witch, who had loved the sea.
I planted them last March, because it is the time for festivals of rebirth and of life returning to the land as well as being the right time to sow sea holly seeds. They are supposed to bloom in September, producing silvery-blue perennial flowers.
Although I love flowers and plants I am not the best gardener so I wasn't surprised that, despite regular watering, no little seedlings emerged.
By autumn, the pot of bare compost was still sitting in my porch when I urgently needed somewhere to put an aloe vera plant. So there I planted it. The aloe did OK over the winter, and a week or so ago I noticed some spiky plants growing alongside it. Now, they have produced some small, silvery flowers.
Are they sea holly? To be honest, I doubt it. Sea holly is supposed to flower in September, not March, and the flowers are silvery, but not blue.
It is probably some weed that has self-seeded, but I am rather curious as to what it is and would love this little mystery solved. If you think you can tell the identity of the plant in the picture above, do leave a comment below.
Links
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2008/03/from-ashes.html
4 comments:
Even if it isn't the sea holly, I think you've still managed to plant something in her memory. How marvellous that it chose what to be!
Thanks Catty, that is definitely the right way to think about it! I shall look forward to finding out what the plant actually is and remembering her by it.
Wasn't it you who pointed me at this very useful plant-identifying website a little while back?
Ah yes. Thanks for reminding me of that website!
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