“Gong Xi Fa Cai” – Happy Chinese New Year! Thursday, February 19, 2015 is Chinese New Year’s, and this is the Year of the Sheep. Just as many people become “Irish for a day” on March 17, many people who are not of Chinese descent enjoy the pageantry, exuberance and food of Chinese New Year!
So if you and I, as gardeners, were looking for significant plants at this festive time of year, what would we choose? If we were going to visit Chinese friends, we would take along a gift of tangerines or oranges. The bright, beautiful fruits symbolize abundant happiness, and of course we would wish that for our friends! If we took along a basket of kumquats, Kam Gat Shu, our friends would be wished luck.
In return, while the tea was brewing, our Chinese friends would treat us to a variety of candied fruits and nuts, which are also full of symbolism and good wishes. Peanuts offer the wishes of long life; coconut offers a wish for togetherness, and lychee nuts represent strength in our family relationships.
If we wanted to make a special flower arrangement that contained significant flowers, we would have a beautiful array to choose from! In the language of flowers for Chinese New Year, fragrant peonies, the “flower of riches and honor” are a symbol of love, affection, and feminine beauty. Red peonies in particular are symbolic of good luck, so our flower arrangement would have to include some of these.
The delicate, cloud-like plum blossoms would add the wishes of reliability and perseverance to our arrangement; and if one of our friends was single and looking or romance, we should add in a stem of peach blossom to include this particular wish! And a stem or two of pussy willow would bring the message of renewal for the coming year.
It would be a beautiful arrangement indeed, full of delicate fragrance and color, and laden with good wishes!
I want to remind you that the first meeting of the Yorkton and District Horticultural Society will be on Wednesday, February 18 at 7:00 p.m. at SIGN on North Street. It will be great to see everyone again after our “winter break”, and you’ll see the exciting year that’s coming up! There will be a variety of interesting speakers through the year, and of course the Fruit, Flower and Vegetable Show on August 11, 2015. I’m passing on that date to you now so that you can mark your calendars and join us! It’s our big chance to show you what we’ve been doing in our gardens, and we are so delighted when you join us for that day!
We’ve talked about this before, and I’ll mention it again: you don’t have to be a member to come to the meetings. If the topic of the evening interests you, just come on in! And if you decide you would like to join, new members are always welcome. People often tell me that they’d like to join but everyone is so busy; I know it’s true, but it’s one evening a month and you don’t have to attend every meeting. We don’t keep attendance, I promise! And you’d get to learn interesting new things and meet wonderful people! It’s great!
Remember that the Prairie Sun Seed Festival is coming up on March 14. This one day festival is jam-packed with activity, including assorted informational booths, people selling various gardening products, and great speakers. The Horticultural Society will have a table at this event, so if you’d like to find out more about us, stop by and say hello! Â
Have a great week, and Happy Chinese New Year!
