A Rose Between Two Thistles

The thistle is the floral symbol for Scotland.  While doing research for my books, I am learning so much more about this lovely country.  Immediately charmed by it, I became more intrigued each time I visited.  I don't get there much anymore, but continue to live vicariously through my books and research.  I am hoping to get there for a few days this fall when I am taking a trip to Europe.  But I am definitely planning a longer trip next year.  In the meantime, I thought it would be nice to share some of the symbolic history of this lovely country and perhaps you can understand why I choose to make it the center stage of most of my books.

Thistle grows abundantly at Coyote Creek Golf Course in San Jose

The symbolism of the thistle stands for nobility and in Celtic folk lore, damaging a thistle was cause for punishment.  Although the details of the punishment were not explicit in the tale, try grabbing one around the neck and believe me, your hand will be punished!!

The thistle has been the flower symbol of Scotland since the reign of Alexander III (1249-1286) and the symbol for the Scottish police force for many years.  One of the legends about this beautiful plant is that when the Vikings tried to invade Scotland, they crept close to the villages at night to overcome them while they slept.  They crept quietly, on bare feet. Unfortunately, they did not see the thistles surrounding the village and some of them let out cries of pain, waking the Scots and bringing them to battle, victoriously.

Thistles are biennials, which means they flower in the second year and then die. They do reseed easily and each year, it seems they get more abundant and beautiful along the cart path at Coyote Creek's Tournament Course.  They are a beautiful sight here, in the dry hills, seemingly unaffected by the drought.