Thistle Tea cup - Wildflowers in My Home

It seems that most tea cups features lovely garden flowers. I do enjoy them and have many of them covered with roses and such. But, as you might guess, my favorite tea cup doesn't have such a tended and pampered flower, but rather one that some might pull up and out of the garden, a thistle.

This afternoon I have drank several cups of tea from my little green tea pot, as I sit here with very low energy and a big box of tissue by my side. It has helped to keep me warm while I dream of big meadows of wildflowers and sunny spring days. The little green tea pot is new to me, recently discovered at a second hand store and brought home to go with my thistle tea cup. Their greens coordinate perfectly, as if they were made to go together. The pot is sturdy, reminding me of the tenacity of a thistle. They really are hard to get rid of. But the painting of the flowers are delicate, just like the cup. It is true that I too don't like to step on a thistle, or accidentally touch one with bare hands, I don't like them in my garden or lawn, but I do love to see them growing in wild places, covered with honey bees or American Goldfinches. You can listen to a goldfinches call here. See a photo of a goldfinch here. (My cup didn't come with a photo of a gold finch, and neither does my blog post, because I have none in my files, and found none in the public domain.)

photo from http://www.publicdomainpictures.net/view-image.php?image=366

Besides providing food for birds and bees, there are some thistles that are beneficial to people. Milk thistle and Blessed Thistle are two examples. Both can help the liver detoxify. And Milk thistle can help a women produce more milk for her nursing baby. There are lovely thistles sold to grow in the garden with lovely flowers, such as the Globe thistle. And when we eat an artichoke, we are eating a thistle flower. Some thistles can be dangerous for live stock, so I guess you would need to be careful, if you had a pasture. But for me, I say let them grow free. They are God's natural bird feeders, and beautiful ones too.