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Holly Ringland Quotes

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Famous Holly Ringland Quotes

“Sturt's desert pea Meaning: Have courage, take heart Swainsona formosa | Inland Australia Malukuru (Pit.) are famous for distinctive blood-red, leaf-like flowers, each with a bulbous black centre, similar to a kangaroo's eye. A striking sight in the wild: a blazing sea of red. Bird-pollinated and thrives in arid areas, but very sensitive to any root disturbance, which makes it difficult to propagate.”

CourageRedGenus SpeciesMeaning Of Flowers
Book:The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart
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“I hope you're well, Alice. Here's to courage. And to heart, right? How about, here's also to the future, and everything it holds. Moss. Alice shook the envelope; a packet of desert pea seeds fell into her palm. 'That looks like some kind of magic,' Sally said. Alice gave her a small smile. 'It is.' She closed her hand around the packet of seeds, feeling their individual shapes and thinking of the color they would grow. To the future.”

CourageFutureSeedsMeaning Of Flowers
Book:The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart
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“Yellow bells Meaning: Welcome to a stranger Geleznowia verrucosa | Western Australia A small shrub with great yellow flowers. Sun loving, drought tolerant and requiring a well-drained soil. Will grow in a little shade, but sun for most of the day is essential. Makes a wonderful cut flower, although fickleness in propagation and seed germination make this a rare plant.”

SunYellowGenus SpeciesMeaning Of Flowers
Book:The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart
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“What plant?' 'Sorry?' "What plant did Mum leave, at the grave?' Sally went to the open window and reached through to pick a peach-colored flower from a blooming bush. She offered it to Alice. 'Beach hibiscus,' Alice cried softly, remembering the flower crown her mother made when she was a child. Remembering its meaning in the Thornfield Dictionary. Love binds us in eternity.”

Meaning Of FlowersBoundPeach ColorEternallyHibiscus
Book:The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart
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“Striped mintbush Meaning: Love forsaken Prostanthera striatiflora | Centtral Australia Found in rocky gorges and near outcrops. Very strongly mint-scented. Narrow leathery leaves. The white flower is bell-shaped with purple stripes inside the bloom and yellow spots in the throat. Should not be ingested, as it can cause difficulty in sleeping. Vivid dreams are also symptomatic.”

MintGenus SpeciesMeaning Of Flowers
Book:The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart
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“At the sight of Ruth, singing and crying in the moonlight, they say Jacob Wyld crouched wordlessly and planted seeds at her feet, in the earth between the roots of the gum tree. What grew from that night, where Ruth's tears fell to the earth, was a heath of wild vanilla lilies, and an equally heady love affair between Ruth and Jacob. They met at the river whenever Ruth could get away. He brought her flower seeds and she brought him whatever meager food scraps she could sneak from the house. Soon Ruth had enough seeds to till a small, shaded corner of dirt near the house, where a nearly dead, lone wattle tree stood. The dirt was so dry it took her a month to soften it with whatever water she could carry from the river. Eventually, the wattle tree exploded into flower, a winter blaze of sweet yellow. Ruth fell to her knees at the sight. The scent floated all the way into town. Bees droned around the tree, drunk on its nectar. Beneath the wattle were circles of green shoots. Ruth sketched each one in her small notebook. As they bloomed, so different to the foxgloves and snowdrops of her mother's songs, Ruth noted down what they meant to her, adapting the Victorian language of flowers. The strange and beautiful native flowers, able to flourish in the harshest conditions, enchanted Ruth; none more so than the deep scarlet flowers with red centres the color of the darkest blood. Meaning, Ruth wrote in her notebook, have courage, take heart.”

TreeSeedsFlowersMagical RealismMeaning Of FlowersNew GrowthWattle
Book:The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart
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“Violet nightshade Meaning: Fascination, witchcraft Solanum brownii | New South Wales A member of the nightshade family, often toxic. Commonly associated with death and ghosts in folklore. Latin name comes from 'solamen' meaning to quieten or comfort, and refers to the narcotic properties of some species. Used as food plants by the larvae of some butterflies and moths.”

MacabreDeadlyGenus SpeciesMeaning Of FlowersNightshadeDark Beauty
Book:The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart
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“Spinifex Meaning: Dangerous pleasures Triodia | Central Australia Tjanpi (Pit.) is a tough, spiky grass dominating much of Australia's interior red sand country, thriving on the poorest, most arid soils the desert has to offer. Tussock-forming, its roots go deep, often as far down as three meters. Certain types are used by Anangu to make a resin adhesive.”

GrassAustralianGenus SpeciesMeaning Of Flowers
Book:The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart
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“Desert heath-myrtle Meaning: Flame, I burn Thryptomene maisonneuvii | Northern Territory Traditionally, Anangu women beat pukara (Pit.) with a wooden bowl to collect dew containing nectar from the flowers. Thryptomene, derived from Greek, means coy or prudish; this bush appears modest but in winter through to spring produces a cloak of tiny white flowers with red centres, blooming as if revealing a secret.”

AustralianGenus SpeciesMeaning Of FlowersMyrtleBush
Book:The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart
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“Cootamundra wattle Meaning: I wound to heal Acacia baileyana | New South Wales Graceful tree with fern-like foliage and bright golden-yellow globe-shaped flower heads. Adaptable, hardy evergreen, easy to grow. Profuse flowering in winter. Heavily fragrant and sweetly scented. Produces abundant pollen, favored for feeding bees in the production of honey.”

TreeGoldenHoneyGenus SpeciesMeaning Of FlowersWattle
Book:The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart
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“Thorn box Meaning: Girlhood Bursaria spinosa | Eastern Australia Small tree or shrub with furrowed dark grey bark. Smooth branches are armed with thorns. Leaves yield pine-like fragrance when bruised. Sweetly scented white flowers bloom in summer. Provides nectar to butterflies and safety to small birds. Intricate architecture of thorns is much sought after by spiders for constructing webs.”

ThornsGenus SpeciesMeaning Of Flowers
Book:The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart
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“River Lily Meaning: Love concealed Crinum pedunculatum | Eastern Australia Very large perennial usually found on the edge of forests, but also at the high-tide level close to mangroves. Fragrant, white slender star-shaped flowers. Seeds sometimes germinate while still attached to the parent plant. The sap has been used as a treatment for box jellyfish stings.”

AustralianLiliesGenus SpeciesMeaning Of FlowersPerennial
Book:The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart
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“Pearl saltbush Meaning: My hidden worth Maireana sedifolia | South Australia and Northern Territory Common in deserts and salty environments, this low shrub creates a fascinating ecosystem of almost hidden treasures: geckoes, fairy wrens, fungi and lichen colonies. Drought-tolerant, with silvery grey evergreen foliage that forms a dense groundcover that is fire-retardant.”

SaltGenus SpeciesMeaning Of FlowersEcosystemBush
Book:The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart
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“Honey grevillea Meaning: Foresight Grevillea eriostachya | Inland Australia Kaliny-kalinypa (Pitjantjatjara) is a straggly shrub with long narrow silver-green leaves that produces bright green, yellow and orange flowers. Commonly grows on red sandhills and dunes. The flowers contain thick, honey-like nectar, which can be sucked from the flowers; a favorite treat for Anangu children.”

DesertHoneyGenus SpeciesMeaning Of FlowersPitjantjantjara
Book:The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart
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“River red gum Meaning: Enchantment Eucalyptus camaldulensis | All states and territories Iconic Australian tree. Smooth bark sheds in long ribbons. Has a large, dense crown of leaves. Seeds require regular spring floods to survive. Flowers late spring to mid-summer. Has the ominous nickname 'widow maker', as it often drops large boughs (up to half the diameter of the trunk) without warning.”

TreeAustralianGenus SpeciesMeaning Of Flowers
Book:The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart
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“Gorse bitter pea Meaning: Ill-natured beauty Daviesia ulicifolia | All states Spiny shrub with stunning yellow and red pea flowers. Blooms in summer. Easy propagation from seed, following scarification. Seed retains viability for many years. Unpopular with gardeners for its very prickly habit, but beneficial to small birds as a refuge from predators.”

Genus SpeciesMeaning Of Flowers
Book:The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart
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“Orange Immortelle Meaning: Written in the stars Waitzia acuminata | Western Australia Perennial with long, narrow leaves, and papery orange, yellow and white flowers. Spring blooming after winter rain. En masse these flowers are spectacular. Have been found in their millions across much of the scrub and desert in the west, with people often traveling long distances to see them.”

Genus SpeciesMeaning Of FlowersPerennial
Book:The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart
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“Broad-leaved parkeelya Meaning: By your love, I live and die Calandrinia balonensis | Northern Territory Parkilypa (Pit.) is a succulent growing in sandy soils of arid regions, with fleshy leaves and bright purple flowers, which appear mainly in winter and spring. In times of drought the leaves can be a water source; the whole plant can be baked and eaten.”

Genus SpeciesMeaning Of FlowersSucculent
Book:The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart
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“Desert oak Meaning: Resurrection Allocasuarina decaisneana | Central Australia Kurkara (Pit.) have deeply furrowed, cork-like bark, which is fire-retardant. Slow-growing but fast to develop a taproot that can reach subsurface water at depths over ten meters. Mature trees form a large, bushy canopy. Many found in the central desert are likely to be more than one thousand years old.”

AustralianOakGenus SpeciesMeaning Of Flowers
Book:The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart
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“Lantern bush Meaning: Hope may blind me Abutilon leucopetalum | Northern Territory Tjirin-tjrinpa (Pit.) is found in dry, often rocky inland regions. Leaves have a heart-shaped base. Yellow hibiscus-like flowers appear mostly in winter and spring, but can sometimes appear endlessly, their bright color shining all year round. Used by Anangu children to make small toy spears.”

Genus SpeciesMeaning Of FlowersBush
Book:The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart
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“Bat's wing coral tree Meaning: Cure for heartache Erythrina vespertilio | Central and northeast Australia Ininti (Pit.) wood is widely used for making spear throwers and bowls. Bark, fruit and stems are used for traditional medicine. Has bat's-wing-shaped leaves, and coral-colored flowers in spring/summer. Attractive, glossy bean-shaped seeds vary in color from deep yellow to blood red, and are used for decoration and jewelry.”

TreeGenus SpeciesMeaning Of Flowers
Book:The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart
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“Green birdflower Meaning: My heart flees Crotalaria cunninghamii | Mid to western states Widespread on sandy soils in mulga communities and on sand dunes, this shrub bears soft hairs on thick and pithy branches. The flower resembles a bird attached by its beak to the central stalk of the flower head; yellow-green, streaked with fine purple lines. Blooms in winter and spring. Pollinated by large bees, and birds.”

BirdGenus SpeciesMeaning Of Flowers
Book:The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart
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“Foxtails Meaning: Blood of my blood Ptilotus | Inland Australia Tjulpun-tjulpunpa (Pit.) are small shrubs that form spikes of purple flowers covered in dense white hairs. Leaves are covered in closely packed star-shaped hairs that slow the rate of water loss. Traditionally, women used the soft furry flowers to line wooden bowls in which babies could be carried.”

ShrubsGenus SpeciesMeaning Of Flowers
Book:The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart
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