The Morning Glory in Chinese Art

The star-shaped morning glory is symbolic of a single day each year in which the Chinese lovers, Chien Niu and Chih Neu, are allowed to meet. According to Chinese lore, Chien Niu was a boy start who was entrusted to take care of water buffalo in the heavenly kingdom. A girl star named Chih Neu was put in charge of seamstress duties. They fell in love, and the romance caused them to neglect their duties. In anger, God forced the young lovers to be separated on both sides of the Silver River and allowed then to meet only once during the whole year.

Morning Glory Facts

The morning glory is aptly named, as the flower blooms in the morning and dies by the afternoon. The flowers are funnel-shaped and prefer full sun. Morning glories will grow in poor, dry soil. They are a vine flower and are highly useful for trellises where they reduce the heating and cooling costs of buildings.

Ancient and Modern Uses of Morning Glories
Morning glories are known in China for their medicinal properties. The seeds are said to have a laxative effect. Large amounts of the seeds can also be hallucinogenic.

The water morning glory, also known as water spinach or swamp cabbage, can be eaten like lettuce. Although it is categorized as a Federal Noxious Weed, the state of Texas allows water spinach to be grown for personal consumption.

In ancient mesopotamia, morning glory juice was used in combination with substance from the Castilla elastica tree to make a bouncing rubber ball over 3,000 years ago.

Morning Glory Photos for Projects and Design

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Plant Morning Glories in Your Garden this Year

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Order Bouquets and Flowers
The extensive FloristOne catalog features flowers for every occasion and an extensive network of florists that allows for same day delivery to nearly all of the United States and Canada. Send a classic gift with special meaning for a birthday, baby's birth, holiday, sympathy, graduation or other special occasion. Nothing else communicates your sentiments quite as well as flowers. See our selection of bouquets and flowers here or go directly to the FloristOne website to see all flowers available.

FLOWER QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

Morning Glory Garden Club Yearbook

Hello,

I am writing for permission to include your article on morning glories in my Garden Club’s 2009 – 2010 Yearbook.  The name of our group is “Smoke Rise Morning Glories Garden Club.”  We are located in Stone Mountain, Georgia, USA. Credit will be written on the page  and a link will be given.

The yearbook is a small edition composed each year with listings of our meeting dates, locations, members’ birthdates, and Garden Club information.  It must go to the printer the first week of August, so please respond promptly.

Sincerely,
S.M.

Dear Susan,

Yes, you have permission to include the article on morning glories with the credit and link as you noted. Any chance I could be sent a copy when it is published? I would really enjoy having one.

All the best,
Kathleen

©2008-2009 Living Arts Enterprises, LLC

See a complete list of symbolism articles on this site.

Reference:
Yeh, Ning. An Album of Chinese Brush Painting: Eighty Paintings and Ideas. Huntington Beach, CA: Ning Yeh's Art Studio, 1986.

Kathleen Karlsen, MA is a professional artist and freelance writer. She is an expert in symbolism, personal growth, design psychology, natural living, and holistic parenting. Kathleen's writing experience includes web content development, article syndication, scriptwriting, books and marketing communications. See Kathleen's art at www.kathleenkarlsenart.com. Contact Kathleen at kathleenkarlsen@msn.com.

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