St Peters RC Church Hamilton

As rich as God’s truth and mercy

Is this seasonal beauty.

Look at the long lasting Japanese anemone

Able to fill your garden with later colour.

In doubles and singles, pale pink to much deeper,

And taffeta white, like a best dressed ballerina,

Some two toned, all flowering on tall, wiry stems,

This long season flower does offer delight by the hour,

In the flurry of this ruffled species of daisy,

Growing happily in eye-catching clumps.

The Lord God in His expert ecology,

Has made this late summer, autumn star,

Which will spread easily once well established,

A favourite of bees and butterflies of all species,

Probably as the saucer shaped flower head,

Usually carrying the rounded petals, offer easy access to pollinators.

As branching stems hold the flowers aloft.

And as the Japanese anemone do not like competitors,

For they are not happy minglers, they are designed to be

A stand alone beauty in their blush of autumn pink,

Revisiting in delightful drifts as in a meadow setting,

Or equally a beauty at the back of an autumn border.

Oh what a most dainty, pretty flower of particular beauty.

Give to the Lord God all the glory!

Lord, how well I remember seeing a clump of Japanese anemones whilst on an autumn holiday. Their beauty stopped me in my tracks and has remained in my memory many long years since. Thank You so much. Amen.