Tuesday 19 February 2019

Metaphors and their meanings


Metaphors

While I was looking through 
gardening books I came

 across some really interesting 
gardening metaphors. 







Here I wanted to look 
at some metaphors 
and what they mean?



While it's the dormant 
season in the garden, 
let's see how we can keep 
our brains active!





I was searching for month 
by month seasonal 
poetry and came across some
of these metaphors I would
 like to share with you.

 






Let's start with the first one I found. 
"Putting down roots"







I feel it is such a firm and 
stable metaphor in the 
world of gardens and plants. 



It can mean so many 
different things to each 
of us. 



Perhaps I see it as 
digging a small vegetable 
patchwith nutritious soil 
and carefully opening
 a packet of tiny seeds 
and placing them in a 
small prepared
 area to set root.




What about you? 
What does "putting down roots" 
mean to you?



Please share with me your thoughts.



Next metaphor I really liked is 
"As the twig is bent."









This quote makes me think 
how meaningful 
trees are to us in a garden. 



Why can we bend a twig and 
make it into something else,
 
like a place to mark some bulbs 
for the months ahead? 



How we can take some 
bamboo stakes 
and bend them into an 
arched piece to grow 
a plant up to enjoy.




Or some willow branches 
which are so
flexible and can be 
bent and shaped into basket
 ware or even hedging. 





Next I found this lovely quote,

"She was a rose among thorns"



I do feel this is refering to 
a difficult gardener 
who was beautiful but stubborn 
in her ways.



She wanted things her own way, 
and why not if she was the gardener. 







Or simply refering to a truly 
beautiful rose with the 

most exotic perfume which was 
growing in nature and the plants 

around 'her' were insignificant
 beside this rose. 




Where do you think this 
metaphor originates?







I feel metahpors are very 
clever ways of using words 
for us to use and then it's 
really interesting 
to hear the origins of them.



Next metaphor I liked was 
'Cherry picking'



It's such a lovely metaphor as 
it feels like we all need to only 
select the best plant,


shurb, tree, or fruit tree. We want 
our gardens to be beautiful 
places and why not have 
the best we can.








"March brings breezes loud and shrill,
Stirs the dancing daffodils."

Sara Coleridge 




"I hear the sparrow's ditty
Anear my study door;
A simple song of gladnesss
That winter days are o'er;
My heart is singing with him,
I love him more and more....
Oh, Spring is surely coming,
Her couriers fill the air;
Each morn are new arrivals,
Each night her ways prepare;
I scent her garments,
Her foot is on the stair. 



John  Burroughs 
"A March Glee."




"In the spring, at the end 
of the day, you should
smell like dirt."

Margaret Atwood




"Where flowers bloom
so does hope."


Lady Bird Johnson



"And Spring arose on the
garden fair,
Like the Spirit of Love felt
everywhere;
And each flower and 
herb on Earth's dark
breast
rose from the dreams of 
its wintry rest. 


Percy Bysshe Shelly