The Passion (Fairies) in my Garden

I have a favorite flower in my garden.  I love them all, but I find this bloom to be inspiring.  The layers in the bloom give it the appearance of a tropical flower.  That is what I thought it was when I first saw one and wondered how it could thrive in the Pacific Northwest.  The only one I have been able to grow, that thrives, is the bloom pictured below.  If you look this flower up online you will read about how the bloom represents the Passion of the Christ and how it came to be.  There are many varieties of this flower and some are really magnificent. The entire plant is an herb.  I loved that fact!  The leaves and bloom can be used in homeopathic medicine and some varieties of the plant bear fruit.

A fairy emerges:  Before the Passion Flower blooms, it is encased in a green pod.  It blooms for three days, then retreats into a dry pod.  I found something fascinating when I opened up the dry pod!  I turned it upside down and pulled the pod leaves back.  What emerged looked like a FAIRY to me!  I was inspired to design several rubber stamp images.  I sent my drawn images to an online business that specializes in making personal stamps.

Inspiration:  Below are the images that I had made into rubber stamps. These are from using the actual rubber stamps and I colored them in with water color pencils.  I didn't know about alcohol pens back in 2008, but I think they would have been fun to use to color these images in.

If you have a Passion Flower and haven't discovered the fairies.....I encourage you to look for one!  Just watch out for the earwigs.  They like them too!

Now click on the blue DCC button at the top of the page and check out what is blooming on the next Blog.
Make sure to take the time to enjoy the little blessings along the way.....

Live Life with a Flourish,

Marilyn