Rhododendrons-Nature's Gift in All Times

Rhododendrons-Natures Gift in All Times

Rhododendrons, I appreciate your innate yearning for sunshine.

You take in all the light you can to form your glorious blossoms,

and your buds, reminiscent of roses, cause stirrings deep within.

Encountering you in the wild always fills me with hope and wonder.

How grateful I am that you grace these gentle Appalachian Mountains.

Your name is derived from Greek, an ancient language still alive today.

Rhondon, rose, and dendro, tree, are it’s roots, but you go back further still.

Called the African Aster before a Dutchman claimed to discover you in 1737,

You have both European and African origins like most of mankind.

In ancient times, asters were believed to be enchanted and their perfume,

when burned, was thought powerful enough to drive away evil serpents.

The tears of Astraea, the virgin goddess of justice, were the source of asters,

Innocent, pure, and precise, Astrea and her flowers stood for wisdom and love,

two qualities often absent in our modern de-spiritualized and disjointed world.

Today, asters are believed to be talismans of tenderness and symbols of patience.

All colors of rhododendrons represent love and loyalty, and bring sunshine‘s

healing attributes making them appropriate in times of sadness and of joy.

Florists tell us gifting rhododendrons say “Everything is better with you.”

Pink blossoms evoke soothing feelings, while flame azaleas elicit aliveness,

Used in funerary arrangements, yellow asters remind us of happy memories.

Yellow-orange offer encouragement to those facing challenging circumstances,

and red are stand-ins for roses and can represent romantic or platonic love,

Rhododendrons can be given when you are too timid to proclaim your feelings.

We, my friends, are in the midst of dark times, but summer still offers us

tapestries of rhododendrons in all their soothing and exciting colors,

the threads of which go back to our most ancient origins, binding us together.

So despair not that this night of our collective souls will last forever,

Rather keep the faith that evil serpents will be vanquished, and compassion

and wisdom will prevail for the sun is expanding and growing brighter every day.

–Lynne Buchanan

I offer you this poem and these photographs in all humility, platonically and passionately, that they may reignite your empathy and compassion for everyone on the planet and not just those in your immediate family. We are all one and it is the energy of the sun that helps life grow. Still these times are so frightening that it is easy to lose sight of the light, especially when our health and livelihoods are threatened, or we can be shot because of skin color.. Many of those closest to us or strangers on the street, may fall into despair and get lost in all the darkness. I implore you to be like a Rhododendron blossom and send some of the positive life force we all can access their way. Now more than ever is the time to think of others, even though we may be spending much more time alone. Sending peace and love your way.