St Peters RC Church Hamilton

Cornflowers white, blue and red centaurea;

Fiery orange and scarlet of linear crocosmia;

The delicate diminutive bloom of lilac verbena;

A bonny, bold daisy called the shasta;

The cone flowered ever popular echinacea;

Deep claret pin cushion blooms of scabiosa;

Rather ethereal, ever popular achillea;

Dark eyed, often golden, rays of rudbeckia;

Pannicles of brilliant red crocosmia;

The red hot poker botanically named kniphofia;

Green foliage sometimes splashed cream of the many hosta;

The rampant climber viticella;

A summer border boasting astrantia;

The long lasting summer flower alstromeria;

Tall, stately, imposing aquilegia;

Bright blaze of bold, riotous zinnia;

A favourite of mine, the ferny foliage of nigella;

And the full glory of many types of dahlia;

What’s in a name? Does it gain your favour?

Do you pronounce the sound to enjoy it?

And even without a picture of the flower,

Which admittedly will gift the colour,

You gain a sweet soft melody

In reciting the names of blooms so summery,

The sound on the ear being so very easy.

Yes, summer can seem even more leisurely!

No need of a rush to find any flower,

There is so wide a choice in the all plenty of summer.

Just enjoy the names as well as the colour.

And all that is left of concern can be the weather!

Lord, who named all these flowers, why do so many names end in the soft ‘a’ sound? Did the names evolve over time as a result of a botanist’s discovery? Certainly You have been delightfully busy creating a beautiful

world of floral colour, thank You. There are many, many questions in life to which I do not know the answer.

Perhaps that does not matter, for of one thing I am sure. That is the immensity of Your love for us, a love which goes to such lengths as to provide ample delight in the natural world. Thank You so much. Amen.