Roots, then Roses

"He cometh forth like a flower." Job 14:2

The lotus flower (the spiritual symbol of the East) is rooted in the mud. It is quite as much indebted to the mud and water for it's beauty as to the air and the sunshine in which it blooms.

We must not scorn the study of root culture, no neglect it in enthusiasm for the beauties of the orchid: for though that exquisite flower is an air plant, it needs to attach itself to the sturdier growth that is rooted in the ground and draws its nourishment from the soil to feed both itself and its parasite. The tree will outlive many seasons of orchids!

"Some time ago in the late autumn," says a writer, "I was in the hot-house of one of our florists. We were in the cellar, and in the dimly lighted place one could see arranged in regular file long rows of flower pots. The florist explained that in these pots had been planted the bulbs for their winter flowers. It was best for them, he said, that they be rooted in the dark. Not in the glaring sunlight, but in the subdued shadows their life-giving roots were putting forth. They would be ready for the open day a little later. Then their gray colors would cheer many hearts; then their sweet perfume would laden the winter air.

Rooted in the shadows to bloom in the light! Roots, then roses.

By Mrs. Charles E Cowman, taken from "Springs in the Valley"