CARNATION TRiViA

 

Red Carnation
(Photo: Rick Kimpel, CC BY-SA 2.0)

January 29^th is National Carnation Day. Here’s some Carnation Trivia.

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    William McKinley believed that red carnations were good luck after he was given one by an election rival and won the Ohio seat. January 29^th is McKinley’s birthday. On September 6, 1901, in Buffalo, NY, a 12-year-old girl asked him for the carnation. He gave it to her and was shot later that day. For years, citizens of Buffalo wore carnations on his birthday.
  

•   The Carnation flower's botanical name is  “Dianthus caryophyllus”  or Greek for flower of the gods. Ancient Greeks and Romans were the first to cultivate carnations over 2,000 years ago.  They wore them as ceremonial garlands and many believe that the name “carnation” comes from “coronation”  which means flower garlands.

•   Carnations are edible and the petals may be seen as garnishes or decorations on salads, cakes, or other desserts.
  

•         At Oxford University, carnations are traditionally worn to all examinations; white for the first exam, pink for exams in between, and a red for the last exam.

•   Carnations are a symbol for Mother’s Day and different colors are used to indicate whether you are showing your love and respect for a mother who is alive or has passed. Red and pink carnations are meant to honor a mother who is alive and white carnations are used to honor a mother who has passed. Anna Jarvis, the founder of the American Mother’s Day, sent more than 500 white carnations to a Mother’s Day observance in her mother’s hometown in West Virginia after her mother’s passing.

  

  Mother's Day Flowers

• 

  Cattleya trianae orchid
  
  

    Carnations are the birth flower for the month of January, the State Flower of Ohio, and the national flower of Spain, Monaco, and Slovenia. Although Bogota, Columbia, is the world capital for carnations, the Cattleya trianae orchid, commonly known as “May flower,”  has been the national flower of Colombia since 1936.
  

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January's WOLF Full Moon

 

Wolf Moon (Photo: Courtesy NSF)

Look for the Wolf Moon, the first full moon of the year, on Monday, Jan. 17, 2022.

Full Moons have been given different names by Native Americans to help track the seasons of the year. There seem to be correlations between the names and what is occurring in nature at that time. According to the Northwest Trek Wildlife Park in Eatonville, WA, wolves “tend to howl more often in the winter months. It was thought the wolves howled due to their hunger; however, there’s no evidence for this.”

Lakota Wolf (Kagan)

Wolves are night hunters, and they most often call to mark territory, locate members of their pack, organize hunting and reinforce social bonds. The idea that they howl at the moon is most likely because they tilt their head back as they vocalize.

The Old Farmer's Almanac notes other interesting names assigned to the January full moon that also relate to cultural or natural events. Some names relate to weather such as “the harsh coldness of the season.” Cold Moon or Frost Exploding Moon from the Cree, and Severe Moon or Hard Moon, referring to the hard crust atop fallen snow, from the Dakota.

There is the Canada Goose Moon of the Tlingit; no doubt associated with the geese in their area. And, in approximately the middle of the winter season,  the Assiniboine people refer to it as the Center Moon.

Not just a North American custom, around the world full moons figure in cultural events. The Weather Channel shares that “Celebrated as the Moon after Yule, pre-Christian Europeans enjoyed a three-day winter solstice feast upon the arrival of this first Full Moon.” Also noted “… in India, [it] signifies the last day of the Hindu calendar celebration Shakambari Navratri festival honoring the goddess Shakambhari.”

We visited both Wolf Preserve of PA, in Littiz, PA, and the Lakota Wolf Preserve in Columbia, NJ. During our March visit to Lakota we heard quite a bit of howling during the day. 

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Heart's Ease - 2022 Herb of the Year™

 

Viola tricolor easily self-sews
.(Photo: MurielBendel, CC BY-SA 4.0) 

Heart’s Ease, also called Johnny-Jump Up, is the 2022 Herb of the Year™ of the International Herb Association. This delicate little woodland herb will jump up out of the warming spring earth in April. It is in the violet family (Violaceae) and parent of cultivated pansies. The herb is native to Europe and came to the United States with the colonists.

They are good container and edging plants, a lovely addition planted amid spring bulbs. The edible blossoms are interesting garnishes and decorations and are reported to have a wintergreen flavor. The face-like flowers draw bumblebees and honeybees for nectar and pollen.

This plant is an annual, biennial, or short-lived perennial depending on where it is grown in the USDA Plant Hardiness Zones 3-8. The flowers can produce up to 50 seeds in each capsule and will easily self-sow, but it is not invasive. It prefers well-drained, moist soil and will grow in full sun to partial shade.

The plant grows from 6 to 8 inches tall. The flowers have 2 lips and are tri-colored, as the name implies, in violet, white and yellow. The drooping head allows rain and dew to fall on the back of the flower. Its leaves have a variety of shapes. The lower blades are heart shaped and the middle and upper leaves are oblong ending in a point. Unlike some other violets there is no leaf rosette at the base. 

The many other names for this plant include wild pansy, call-me-to-you, and come-and-cuddle-me. It is linked to Cupid in Roman mythology and is often associated with affection and love.  The name pansy comes from the French word pensée, which means thought and its drooping head, suggesting deep in thought, relates to the florist’s symbolism of thought.

Pansy (Photo: Laurie Collins)

In Midsummers Night Dream Oberon says:  

Yet marked I where the bolt of Cupid fell,

It fell upon a little western flower,

Before milk-white, now purple with loves wound,

And maidens call it love-in-idleness

The juice of it on sleeping eyelids laid

Will make a man or woman madly doat

Upon the next live creature that it sees.

CKagan, Master Gardener

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Garden Plans and Moon Planting

 

Moon planters believe that the same gravitational force that affects the tides cause above ground crops to leap right out of the earth. And when on the wane with only a light pull and earth’s gravity the stronger, root crops dig deep in the ground.

As you look over your seed catalogs and begin planning your gardening season, check out moon planting and consider putting in a few plants to test if the lunar cycle affects their growth.

February’s full Snow Moon will appear on Wednesday, February 16, 2022. The February full moon is called the Snow Moon as February usually has the heaviest snowfall. Although Feb 16, according to the AstroSeek  lunar planting calendar, is a rest day, the following five days are for planting below ground root plants; however, maybe not in our Zone 6.

Look for the five days after the March 18 Worm Moon to plant beets, broccoli, cauliflower, and leafy greens. This is called the Worm Moon as it is near the beginning of spring and softer ground brings earthworms up and robins out.

Root Vegetables
(Photo: Alex Lomas, CC BY 2.0)

What About Moon Gardening and Planting?

Pick anytime through history and somebody is trying to figure out how the moon affects our planet. While some scoff at the idea and call it folklore, others swear by it and others say “why not?” I am nevertheless wary of anyone who cites their “grandpap” as an authority.

Cheri Melton, a Cochise County,  Arizona, Master Gardener, uses this method but provides no scientific back-up for the claims; however, she notes that it does add a rhythm to planting cycles and helps her pace her gardening.

Even further into astrological affects, some believe that the zodiac signs present when crops are planted can increase growth and production. There are air, water, fire, and earth signs, each with plus and minus properties.

Whether you believe the moon affects plant growth or not, it's still an interesting idea and helps promote annual almanac sales. Almanacs which, by the way, predict a “winter whopper” near the end of February this year.

(Because of the need for truth in media, please note that several extensive research reviews show no basis for the moon to impact plant growth.)

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