Sunday, August 29, 2010

Pure Beauty












My very first sight of the Stargazer Lily was just a few weeks ago, and of course I had to show you. I was amazed. It is a newer lily, developed only in the last part of the 20th century. Lilies were around in ancient Greek and Roman civilizations, and then appeared in biblical traditions. This plant is extremly toxic to cats, and can cause death. But strangely, it affects only cats and no other animal. Lilies symbolize purity, and are popular funeral flowers, because of the soul being restored to innocence and purity after death. It's a pure beauty.


"The goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. Some have wandered away from these and turned to meaningless talk..."
1 timothy 1:5

22 comments:

Dawning Inspiration said...

Wow - that is certainly a STAR of a stargazer lily - love that hot pink color and I can almost smell the scent!! ;o)

Betsy Banks Adams said...

How gorgeous, Ginny... I love Stargazers. We have them too. I posted a picture of ours on my July 30th post... the Lilies this year overall were prettier than other years for us. They must have liked the hotter temps...

I love Easter Lilies ---and love to smell the church on Easter Sunday with all of those beautiful lilies in there. Lilies have the best aroma... They certainly do represent purity --and are PURE BEAUTY.

Love your scripture reference.
Hugs,
Betsy

Karin said...

What a gorgeous lily - such great photos! Easter lilies have such a strong fragrance. We have staff where I work who is so allergic to them and she had to be taken straight to Emergency when someone brought in these beauties. We can't even have them in the facility now. I also didn't know that your stargazer is toxic to cats, wow!

Annie Jeffries said...

What an extraordinary PINK. If I ever have one of these in my backyard, the cats will be perfectly safe. The neighborhood cats don't visit us anymore since Tanner came into our household. Tanner is a 12 lb. chihuahua/terrier mix and quite territorial.

Reanaclaire said...

Ginny, it certainly looks exotic especially from the nearer angle.. :)

Jane said...

Good morning Ginny - That is a beautiful flower.

Jane

From the Kitchen said...

The Stargazer, and especially the hot pink, is one of my favorites. Interesting that cats do not need to be close to them. And, I wonder why just cats.

Best,
Bonnie

MadSnapper said...

I had to smile when I read the star gazer part. i enlarged the second photo and sat and gazed at it for a while, there is so much to see in there, at first look, just the pure beauty of the flower and its amazing color. but all those little stamen thingys are beautiful to. loveley photos, lovely flowers by lovely Ginny.

srp said...

Being a long-time cat lady I had to chuckle at cats being the only animal affected adversely by this beautiful flower. Perhaps it is because the cat is so sneaky and devious... I know most of mine are...

George said...

These are beautiful pictures of your beautiful lily. You did a great job.
We have several Stargazers in our yard and really like them.

Ruth's Photo Blog said...

Ginny,these pictures are stunning.I love lilies and Jake and I have quite a few.The Stargazer is definitely one of my favorites.
Blessings,Ruth

Stephanie V said...

That's a beautiful photo, Ginny. Wonderful color and design in that lily.

photowannabe said...

I love the color of this lily. Great shots too. I think I need to put some of these in my garden.

Anonymous said...

Hi Ginny, I love the star gazer lilies too. They are one of the prettiest flowers and your photos are just beautiful.

Velvet Over Steel said...

That is Beautiful! Esp. to me since my favorite color is PINK!:-)

Very interesting too about it's name and all!

Hugs,
Coreen

Mary Bergfeld said...

This is among my favorite lilies. The color is just wonderful. I hope you are having a great day. Blessings...Mary

Kilauea Poetry said...

Thanks for the useful info. I had no idea about cats being singled out like that! My cats are soo finicky (I think most are), I don't worry about it, though I wouldn't rule it out as they could always indirectly get it! I put snail and slug bait around, but never had a problem? I tuck it under rocks though? Now, these are just what you described! I love them..I haven't been paying attention to any of my lilies..when they pop up, I wish I pulled the weeds around them! Beautiful series-

Together We Save said...

Oh my... that Lily is just beautiful!!

ruthi said...

It is indeed amazing. I love the splash of color pink. simply gorgeous. and of course your verse never fail to touch my heart. thanks for sharing.

Fred Alton said...

Your pictures are always GREAT! And what an interesting thing about this being a newly developed lily - that is poisonous to cats? Amazing.

Unknown said...

Ginny; these shots are magnificent! I am in loooooove with them!!! :o)

SquirrelQueen said...

That is an amazingly beautiful lily Ginny, I love the pink color. Your macro shots are beautiful.

It does seem strange that only cats are effected by lilies. My lilies are all out front and my cat rarely gets to go out except to the backyard with me. Of course all my lilies are gone for this year.

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