I have a little treat for you this month. The flower for August is the Gladiola. I went searching for a picture of one on the web and found that it seems to be a flower enjoyed by all countries and cultures. There were pictures, but to my surprise there were many videos. This one is A kardvirág, gladiolus .wmv , a You Tube video set to music that sounds almost like Spanish music, but the comments on the site look like Russian maybe. I only speak English, so I can't tell what the words are in this song, but from the sound of it, it must be something beautiful. If anyone knows, please post about it. The gladiola images in it are stunning.
The meaning of the gladiola is sincerity and strength of character and I read on one site that it can symbolize a strong marriage.
The gladiolus is also known as the Sword Lily. It got its name from their resemblance to Roman gladiators with their swords. The Victorians believed that this flower carried the meaning of "remembrance" and giving this flower would "pierce" the heart of the recipient with fond affections because of the sword shaped leaves. I would surely remember someone who pierced my heart with a sword, wouldn't you? I think they were speaking in the Cupid way of piercing.
I didn't know the flower for August is the Gladiola. I have a few gladiola memories. One is from when I was a young girl. My Mom worked at Vaughns Seed Factory in Illinois. She was always bringing home seeds and bulbs. She always brought Gladiola bulbs and would plant them in the spring. They bloomed in the summer while I was out of school and our yard was full of the glorious blooms. Another gladiola memory I have is of a place here in Florida where there is a gladiola field. I remember finding this place one day when I was on my way the beach. The county extended a road that was a good way to get to the beach and the first time we rode on it we saw that it ran right next to this huge field of gladiolas. We were on a motorcycle and slowed down to look at it. What a lovely thing...acres and acres of gladioli in every color they come in. That was a great day. I was with who was to become my first husband and I was sweet 16 and head over heels in love, sitting on the back of his Honda 70cc motorcycle (some would call that a scooter, LOL.). It was summer, so it could have been August, but I really don't remember. I do remember holding on to him tight in a hug as I looked at this glorious vision. What a great day!
Another flower for August is the poppy. 
I didn't find much said about its meaning, except it was associated with sleep. Not hard to imagine how it got that association, is it? I grew poppies once and remember that they were very easy to grow and very delicate looking with a crepe paper appearance in the petals.
The birthstone for August is the Peridot
.
The Squido site says this: Peridot (Gift from the Sun): Helps us open our inner sight to the spiritual Sun, develops inner vision and the ability to look into the future, frees one of jealous thoughts and counteracts negative emotions.
Counteracts negative emotions? I think I need to keep a couple of these handy, lol. It's a really pretty green, isn't it? I read on one site that their color and appearance can change with temperature.
August's birth trees are Poplar, pine and cedar trees. The pine symbolizes eternal life and creativity. There were so many different kinds of pine tree pictures, I couldn't choose, but I have memories of poplars so I'm posting these.
In the first one you can see the shape of their leaves...kind of spade shaped. They are a thick leaf and are sort of waxy and stiff. The second picture reminds me of the ones that grew in my front yard in the place I grew up. They were in the front yard and when the wind blew they would "clap". Very noisy but also calming in a funny sort of way. The sound was just enough to get your attention off of the "noise" in your head. They get very tall and the bark is very coarse. Our home was built in a place where artesian wells were everywhere. An artesian well is like a spring. Every time it would rain, our whole neighborhood would flood from these springs. We'd always have ice to skate on in the winter. Unfortunately for my parents, there was one of these in our basement, so in the fall and winter it would flood. They got a sub-pump and ran it all the time when it flooded. It would pump the water outside toward the front of our house. Our house was built on a hill that sloped away on 3 sides of the house. The outflow would freeze sometimes and we kids would take full advantage of the slide of ice it created. On day while sliding down this, I got off track and went off the side of the ice headlong into the side of one of the poplars. The whole left side of my face was like road rash and it was like that through the next few weeks. It made me see stars when I hit it, lol. My mom came out to see what I was crying about and when she saw me, scooped up a handful of snow and applied it like a poultice to the side of my face. For some reason, I clearly remember the look in her eyes and the feeling that I could always count on her. That's the kind of thing you can only get from your mother, I think.
Here I am talking about August and sharing a winter memory. Oh, well, if anyone needs to thing of cooling off, maybe it will help a little, lol.
Does anyone else have any good August memories? Please feel free to post a reply.
Here are some of the links that I found in my August search:
http://www.birthstones.org.uk/birth-month-flowers/august-birth-flower.htm
http://garden.firelady40.com/monthsstonesmeaning.html#aug
http://www.squidoo.com/birth-symbols
http://www.ehow.com/about_6761870_august-flower-birthstone.html
http://www.ehow.com/about_6761870_august-flower-birthstone.html
http://www.theflowerexpert.com/content/mostpopularflowers/morepopularflowers/gladiolus
Posted
Sun, Aug 7 2011 11:26 AM
by
Linny t