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| Tulipa acuminata |
In a rare gathering, Dr. Hortfreud, Hortense Hoelove, the Old Woman at the Door, several garden fairies, and I gathered in the early morning hours here at May Dreams Gardens to watch the royal wedding.
Dr. Hortfreud grumbled a bit about the early hour, since she’d been up late, again, typing up her notes after another difficult, grueling session with her one and only patient.
Hortense Hoelove was in a bit of a snit, wondering why she had not been invited to this grand affair, but it was pretty much an act because she really would not have wanted to bother with shopping for a proper hat and dress. And she won’t talk about flying over the ocean in a plane. I hope she’ll talk to Dr. Hortfreud about that flying business because the Old Woman at the Door complains all the time that we never go anywhere.
Speaking of the Old Woman at the Door, she recalled watching a similar wedding some thirty years ago when she was, of course, thirty years younger. She was the one who decided not to tell the others what she was going to wear to watch the royal wedding, until she actually arrived this morning. She wanted to do things the way they did them over there across the big pond.
The garden fairies were all in awe, watching especially the princes in the uniforms and wondering why they couldn’t wear nice uniforms like those. I reminded them that they are garden fairies. They do not have a military so forget the uniforms. Then they saw all the pretty dresses and thought they should dress a little nicer in general, but I told them it was futile to try to do so. They are garden fairies so they are slobs! Any nice uniforms or dresses they had would be a mess in a matter of a few minutes in the garden. They decided then that they should just get some new hats after seeing all the fancy hats of the wedding guests.
After a bit, the groups’ thoughts turned to gardening, as they always do. Were any of the hats covered in real flowers? What flowers would look best on a hat? The group voted and decided that of all the flowers blooming in the garden right now, the odd looking Tulipa acuminata was the most likely to end up on someone’s hat.
Even the announcers were thinking “garden”, having described the Queen’s outfit as “lemon”. Then they noted that the bride was carrying a bouquet of lily of the valley. There are some lily of the valley flowers (Convallaria majalis) getting ready to bloom here at May Dreams Gardens, a sentimental favorite traced back to my grandmother’s garden.
Hortense noted that it looked like there were trees actually growing inside the abbey. Big ones, too. She thought that was nice but hoped no one wrote her asking about those trees because she didn’t know much about them and hates when she doesn’t have an answer and has to make one up.
Soon the garden fairies began to fidget and to occupy their time, they found some Shakespeare to quote, to remind them of England.
“I know a bank whereon the wild thyme blows,
Where oxlips and the nodding violet grows
Quite over-canopied with luscious woodbine,
With sweet musk-roses, and with eglantine.
There sleeps Titania some time of the night,
Lull’d in these flowers with dances and delight.”
(A Midsummer Night’s Dream)
The Old Woman at the Door then made a pitch to the group that they should all plan to go to England sooner rather than later to see the gardens and not just read about them. I promised to look into that on everyone’s behalf if Dr. Hortfreud would talk Hortense into flying across the big pond.
Finally, the time came for me to leave the party, filled with thoughts of gardening, flowers, ceremonies, and traditions, and head out into the world again, happy to have seen a lovely ceremony and a little history and remembering that the best advice to give to any couple starting a new life together is…
“If you should plant a lovely garden, then you should have a lovely life.”
I don’t know what the others did with the rest of their day, though there are rumors that the garden fairies heard all those royal titles and now want some of their own.
And that’s how we watched the royal wedding here at May Dreams Gardens
How simple and regal it was, loved the whole ceremony. I noticed how understated the flowers were in the church shades of greenish white picking up the green foliage on the aisle of trees.
Eileen
I loved the trees in the church, simple, elegant, perfect. The group who watched with you sounds so fun, I can picture them lined up on the sofa (not couch). 🙂
Frances
I read they were potted hornbeams and maples brought in for the ceremony. I loved the way it looked!
i was completely charmed by the trees in the church and with your story, too.
The garden fairies should be told that the tree just outside the door to Westminster Abbey was an elder, a magical sacred tree that the fairies use to make pipes (flutes) and magic wands. It is also a protective herb, which is why they were often planted near churches & other places that people gathered.
I enjoyed watching the ceremonies at the of my Friday, as getting up at 1am was not in the cards. What a tasteful and yet, elegant ceremony. I loved the trees in the Abby. I had no fairies to sit and watch with me, just a cranky husband, a bit put off as the TV had been hijacked all night by the wife 😉 Cheers, Jenni
Sweet tie in to the Royal Wedding. Just tell the garden fairies we love them as they are.~~Dee