Ring in the New Year with some awesome Garden fireworks

Leonie Cornelius AWARD-WINNING GARDEN DESIGNER AND WRITER

There’s something amazing about nature and how it changes and morphs throughout the seasons, ever transitioning and shifting from fresh lime green to earthen brown and all the endless explosions of colour in between. Sometimes I find myself staring at a plant or a flower in awestruck wonder, incapable of comprehending the almost too perfect geometry of petals or leaves. The transience of nature, and flowers in particular, is something both beautiful and melancholic – and the beauty of a flower which blooms and then fades to decay again has long been a symbol for the transience of life.

We often draw inspiration from the natural world and place emphasis on the meanings and associations of flowers in particular. In Victorian times floriography – a “language of flowers” – became a cryptological means of communication. This was not the first time that meaning was attributed to flowers, however.

In fact, traditional cultures in Europe, Asia and Africa have been using some form of floriography for thousands of years. Flower symbolism also has a long history in Japan, and in the ancient Japanese language of flowers called Hanakotoba, plants are used as emotional and cultural symbols to communicate without ever needing to say a word.

A modern tradition which also draws on the symbolism of flowers is the practice of fireworks. In Japan, the word for fireworks, “hanabi”, means “fire flowers” and fireworks are highly valued due to the fact that they echo the transience of nature and the floral bloom cycle. Even in modern fireworks, many of the shapes which light up the sky for our celebrations worldwide are named after flowers in the garden. From spiky dahlia-shaped explosions and rounded shapes of the peony and chrysanthemum to weeping tree shapes such as willow, fireworks pay homage to a multitude of garden flora.

When looking at plants’ growth in detail, it is fascinating to study the endless forms. From scrambling habits to conical and erect spiring forms all the way to bushy and mounded shapes, the plant world, much like the art of fireworks, has much to admire. Plants often grow in spray form too – think of the starry shapes of grasses, aloes and many other succulents.

The most striking shapes can be found in the actual flowers of plants and many of these have beautiful forms which echo strobed light, much like the shapes of a fireworks display.

So with the New Year only days away with its fireworks inspired by the garden, let’s allow the fireworks in turn to inspire some plant choices for gardens in 2020.

A very happy New Year to you.