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Appalachian Wildflower Bouquets
By Mary Dell Design
Frostburg, Maryland
medgerly@yahoo.com
301-689-3540
~~An inexpensive gift for any
lover of nature and beauty~~
About Mary Dell Design
Mary Dell Design is located in Frostburg, Maryland, a town of
5,000 in the Appalachian Mountains just west of Cumberland, Maryland. The designer, Mary Spalding (formerly
Edgerly), teaches college English during the school year and enjoys writing,
gardening, and crafting during the summer.
I have made my bouquets for years to give
away as gifts. This year (2007) is my
first attempt to sell the bouquets. I
believe that others will also enjoy the beauty, history, and folklore of
flowers and plants we tend to ignore—the ones growing like weeds all around
us!
What is a weed but a plant you don’t want in
your garden? But put it in an
arrangement and the beauty of that “weed” will surprise you! Flowers we see every single day take on a
different character when they are in a bouquet—we suddenly see the intricate
structure of even the most common plant and appreciate anew its contribution
to our landscape. Even better, these
plants often have fascinating histories, and many are useful for medicinal or
culinary purposes (though I identify them as such for informational purposes
only—ingest or touch at your own risk!)
A full description of each plant with history,
interesting facts, and my own notes is available at this web site. Thus, the bouquets serve an educational
purpose as well.
I believe in conserving our wildflowers (see
policies below) but also think that reminding others of their beauty and
usefulness will lead to a greater awareness in the general public which, in
turn, will lead to greater conservation.
Mary Dell Design also sells greeting cards,
purses, and jewelry. Links to those
products will be provided at a later date.
My Inspiration for Miniature Bouquets
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Last summer I was walking in my yard, scanning the ground
for interesting plants, when I saw a tiny orange flower. It was so small I was lucky I saw it, but
when I picked it I saw the delicate beauty and bright color of its stamen,
not to mention its cheerful orange petals.
A Web search for “tiny orange flower” revealed the identity of this
beauty hidden in plain sight—the Scarlet Pimpernel!
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What a find for a lover of wildflowers and English literature! I’d
read the story of the same name in elementary school and never forgot the
surprise ending. Now I understood
the significance of the main character’s name. He, like this flower, was hidden in plain
sight among his friends and relatives.
He found the purloined letter also hidden in plain sight, resting on
the lintel above a doorway used by the characters on a regular basis. They daily walked past the letter they
wanted, though it was there for everyone to see—just as we do with this
little flower.
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Bringing the tiny, hidden flower into view allowed me to see
its real beauty, and thus the idea for miniature bouquets was born. How many other little treasures do we
miss as we walk blithely across our lawns and in the woods? I’ve discovered many more since that day
I found my first Scarlet Pimpernel—this teensy Speedwell, for instance. Smaller than my pinky nail … what a
sweetheart!
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Plant Collecting Policies
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All flowers and plants are legally harvested with
conservation in mind. I collect only
in places where doing so is legal, and I never pick the last of a species
in the spot—I always leave a number of healthy plants.
I follow the Maryland Department of Natural Resources’
Endangered Plants of Maryland
list for the counties where I pick my flowers. If I collect in other areas, I check the
endangered list for those areas as well and do not pick endangered plants.
Some flowers come from my or friends’ gardens unless the
purchaser specifies “wildflowers only,” though this distinction is often
nebulous, as many of the flowers in the wild are also flowers we cultivate.
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(301) 689-3540
www.oocities.org/medgerly
Email me at:
medgerly@yahoo.com
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