When love blossoms...
Orchids brings an exotic rarity to a space that can be associated with
luxury and refinement. With more understanding, the context of the flower can invoke deeper
meaning than meets the eye.
Perhaps it’s the unusual way in which the orchid plants flowers, which lead
to ancient sexuality, virility, fertility and even romantic connotations having
been attached to them. With over 20, 000+ accepted species in their genre, that
varies in sizes with the smallest orchid being just 2mm wide, orchids are
notably scent-filled and sensual in presentation.
More than this, they are well documented for medicinal, spiritual and even
botanic condiment production . Vanilla is the product of Orchids and historically,
men would eat the larger bulbs entrusting for a male child while women the
smaller bulbs for a female child. The
Aztecs combined chocolate with vanilla for perceived power and strength
capabilities. The Asian’s considered the live orchid plants for lung and cough
cures while dually for refined, floral- decorative purposes. Stomach and eye remedies were said to be found
in orchid plants. Beautifully blinding…not so!
Orchid plants are considered symbols of integrity by the Chinese, while
the colour of them are definitive to the context in which they are presented. The
white flowering orchids are like most, symbolic of purity, elegance and
innocence. This is more so symbolic when considering the emphasis around
sexuality linked to the plant and uses of them in an aphrodisiac sense. While yellow
symbolises friendship and birthing of new beginnings, red live orchid plants,
as is the case with most red flowers, remains indicative of love. Orange is seen to invite boldness, pride and
enthusiasm. Purple colour orchids symbolise royalty and respect. Missing is
black flowering orchid plants that would make for a truly lasting impression!
Found almost in every Continent, these exotics are native to the tropics
and true to their visually sensual form, they hunger moisture and light. Fairly
low maintenance they simply find their way along a bark and have been seen to,
once enveloped, birth beautiful flowers abundantly. It’s said that if you can’t
keep an orchid plant alive, you wouldn’t survive the attention demanded from
a pet, child or partner!
Orchid plants have found their space beyond forests, weddings and homes
and into notable orchid shows as is found in Thailand and New York (to name
just two). There you can expect to experience Orchid’s like none other and be
educated on them in totality. Curators and cultivators of these rare plants are
known to live of the generous income generated in orchid sales however mostly,
their prided expertise is vast and impressive. An orchid exhibition is a must
see for anyone curious or fascinated by this flower. You can expect to see
colours, shapes and sizes of the bulbs… and even indoor orchid forests like you
perhaps cannot even begin to imagine.
While Orchids have captivated many artists, interior designers, event planners,
hotel lobby designers and other “commercial eyes”, philosophically they have
inspired thoughts and analogies by Confucius.
Not bad for a “sensual” flower that was also thought to be a moth.
Comments
Post a Comment