Certain plants, when they bloom, bring about a sense of melancholy, no matter how pretty or innocent they may otherwise be. That’s the feeling I get whenever the Japanese anemone opens in mid-to-late August. It’s a tell-tale signifier of the fall to come, an incontrovertible fact of the quick passage of summer, hastened day by day from this point forward. Like the goldenrod that must be beginning its graceful nodding beside highways and country roads, it’s a symbol of the waning summer, and always a rather sad one at that.
On this particular Saturday morning, however, I’m turning that around and focusing on the joy, working to savor these blossoms, and thinking for the first time of how they are reminiscent of the blooms of the dogwood tree – a lovely little reminder of when the season was just beginning. Savoring is an important component of happiness, and after being awakened by the shrill screaming of neighborhood chainsaws (the drawback of being one of the only working people on the street who only gets two days a week to sleep late) I made the effort to turn the day around with this moment of savoring.
Though it begins with these slightly mottled petals of pink, the flowers of the Japanese anemone will eventually pale to an almost white color, a ghostly echo of the creamy sepals of the dogwood blooms. There’s a beautiful symmetry to that, and nature can always be counted upon to put such magic into effect.
As for the dwindling days of summer, let’s choose to focus on the sun and warmth at hand, to savor and make the most of the seasonal happiness. There will be more than enough time to dwell upon and deal with fall after it arrives.
