Featured Flower: Snapdragon

Snapdragons

In honor of this issue’s article on singing, I’ve chosen Snapdragons as the featured flower.  As almost any child will tell you, these little guys sing.  Many of you will already know that by squeezing the sides of the flower you can make its mouth open and close to mimic talking or singing.  It is their face-like appearance (with moving jaw) that has given them their name.  I believe this anthropomorphic aspect is animated in Disney’s Alice in Wonderland.

In addition to making a wonderful natural puppet for little hands to play with, Snapdragons come in a rainbow of colors.  They range from deep reds, to several shades of pink, orange/rust, yellow, and white.

The flower stalks are often used in floral arrangements in Spring and Summer and offer the designer linear form with their height.  However, their dense colored blooms can be used as a mass flower.  Each flowering stem is adorned with dozens of trumpet shaped blooms which open from the bottom up, much like a maypole unwinding.

Snapdragons are associated with strength, dignity, graciousness, and unique beauty.  According to flowerinfo.org, these beastly-named flowers were used to ward off evil spirits and witches, repel unwanted advances, and restore energy and youthful beauty.

Of course the real reason for featuring these beautiful and stately blooms is that I am pleased as punch to have them blooming like crazy in my back yard flower bed for the first time.  By using a frost cover, we were able to keep last year’s summer flowers going strong, and now we are being treated to a living bouquet.  It’s wonderful!  You’ve got to love May.  There are so many wonderful flowers in bloom.