Where the Flowers Bloom

Updated: Aug 28, 2019

I have some long established flower beds in my yard with flowers I love. There are roses, some antique and some common, French lavender, yellow mums, lilies that were given to me by a former co-worker and more. I tried very hard to setup the main flower bed to always have something in bloom from early spring through late fall and even winter. Over time I’ve added somethings and tried different plants where others didn’t work but it’s a planting bed I just enjoy playing in. I look forward to those first spring daffodils popping up in the spring as a sign that it’s time to get busy working in that bed.

The flowers in my yard are for enjoyment. I like watching them grow, fussing over the blooms and even sometimes just picking the weeds. It’s my place to express some creativity, do something different and enjoy being outside. I feel better after a bit of work in that bed with dirt covering my fingers and packed into the holes of my Crocs. Maybe it’s just the satisfaction of the bed being cleaned up or seeing new plants take shape or maybe it’s the flower vase I just filled up but there’s something that being in that flower bed for me.

We all have an innate draw to nature even if we consider ourselves to not be “outdoorsy.” We are pulled to bright warm days with soft breezes, vibrant colors and even just hearing birds sing. Nature is all around us every day in some form. Often however in our busy lives we can ignore these subtle surroundings preventing us from taking a moment just to pause and see what is truly around us.

Bringing Nature to Us

The beauty of nature is we can bring it closer to us when we cannot be outside in it. Indoor houseplants, vases of flowers, window sill boxes and other forms of nature indoors are all entirely possible. Bringing nature in helps us connect and reap at least some of the benefits that we would get if we could be outside.

How we bring nature to us when it comes to our home and health however matters and can impact the results we want to realize. When it comes to using plants and flowers in our health where those flowers come from and how they are grown, harvested and produced into oils and products greatly matters. For instance the lavender plant I have in my yard has been placed in soil that I had to build up to be fertile and suitable for that plant. Where I live is naturally sandy and lacks the ingredients that lavender needs to thrive. I can however simulate soil needed for that plant because of access to organic elements like natural fertilizer, rich soil and other that I can purchase at my local garden center. While the lavender will grow and has for many years in my yard it’s not in its native environment and it’s not in soil that was ideal and natural for it to occur on it’s own. The result is the lavender flowers my plant produces is not going to be as strong as a lavender flower that blooms naturally in France.

The same occurs when lavender is turned into essential oil for health and personal use. If the plant was grown in soil that was treated with pesticides or in conditions outside of where it is naturally occurring it will alter and change the final product. Yes, the plant will still bloom and yes it will still make oil but the purity, quality, strength and assessment of that oil will vary significantly. This is the most important reason why it is critical to understand the sourcing of where the natural essential oils you use come from.

The Perfect Bloom

There are many brands of essential oils on the market these days. The flowers and plants used in those bottles can be a real plant or something chemically produced. It is up to the consumer to vet the product.

I chose doTERRA because they source their plants and flowers globally where the plants grow most naturally in soils and settings that are free of chemicals and pesticides. These are not hothouse plants or laboratory scents. They come from personal family farms where often the process is done by hand by families working together. There are two reasons I love this arrangement.

First, I’m guaranteed a bottle of essential oil that has been individually tested for purity and quality and does not contain synthetic ingredients, water or some other crazy thing that shouldn’t be there. What is says on the bottle is what is inside of it. Plain and simple.

Secondly, sure doTERRA could have purchased lavender from anywhere in the world but they chose France because it grows the best there and it helps a lot of family farms survive and provide for their family. All of the doTERRA essential oils are sourced in this way. There are not corporations or mass farms in play here. It’s families, like mine who just want the best they can give for their children. In many cases, these farms are in third world countries where employment opportunities for a decent living are scarce.

There are even some that come from right here in the USA! So yes, there are less expensive ways to create an essential oil and even quicken the process but is that really worth it? Sometimes, and I believe natural products I use in my home and for my health qualify, need to be the best they can be or why bother?