Flower Reflections for 2024: The Art of Letting Go

“Letting go happens naturally with flowers –  As does reblooming and planting seeds for tomorrow”- Jill Brooke

This photograph by International Garden Photographer of the Year award-winner Bożena Piotrowska so captures what flowers do so well. There’s beauty in the process of letting go as well as necessity. Flowers are never in a rush. They bloom and rebloom when ready. It is how flowers teach us not only patience but perspective.

We humans can learn from the wisdom of flowers. The past year it did feel as though fairness was elusive and bad behavior rewarded. But patience is essential.

For example, for the Himalayan lily, white and purple blooms grow on this 10-foot-tall plant every seven years.  Luckily, there are plenty of lilies that bloom all year. But that’s not the point. Nature is teaching us that some things take longer for some than others.

Perhaps it is also why I so love ikebana flower arranging. In each arrangement is a bud – representing the future, a flower in full bloom for the present and a branch or element that is letting go. No, it is not past its prime. It’s just all a part of a life cycle. There is beauty in each stage if you look for it.

Ikebana, which translates to “making flowers alive” or “way of flowers” is a Japanese tradition that dates back to the 7th century when floral offerings were made by the priests at temple alters. It then evolved to be a widespread tradition for the merchant and samurai classes with interesting applications. Japanese generals believed working with flowers calmed the mind and gave perspective.

What most appeals to me about this ancient approach is that it looks at floral arrangements as landscapes that represent nature. “There is always air in the arrangements, an emptiness that also has its beauty,” explained Noritaka Noda, a master practitioner of Ikenobo, the most classic and oldest school under the ikebana umbrella. A branch that extends beyond the horizon, he points out,  expresses continuity.

Another lesson to learn from this philosophy is that one doesn’t need too many flowers to create beauty. Just like we don’t need as many things as we seek. Often with just four or five flowers, one can create something memorable and delightful. It’s a nice thought to ponder for 2024. As David G. Allen so aptly put it, “Patience is the calm acceptance that things can happen in a different order than the one you have in your mind.” Continue growing and planting beloved flower lovers. Good soil produces beautiful flowers.