When my partner Sarah and I moved to Vancouver Island in 2005, we were greeted by an island that offered us playfulness, pleasure, inspiration and an awakening to spirit. We listened to the Spirit of the Island calling us.

In our own patch of the island we have a garden full of roses, whimsical daisies, pink lavatera, hostas, painted fern, hydrangeas, a butterfly bush and many rhododendrons. And there are trees: alders, Douglas firs, arbutus, and by the front door, a Japanese maple. Welcome to our garden which includes the inner garden, full of creativity in which to appreciate Nature’s gifts as reflected and gathered in flower essences.

There are six flower essences in the Spirit of the Island repertoire so far: Rhododendron, Butterfly Bush, Rose of Sharon, Camellia, Golden Chain Tree and a combination flower essence, made up of three essences, called Writing Life. Flower essences help us to listen, opening us to hearing a whole new level of awareness accessed through conscious partnering with Nature. Like the distillation of words and memories into a poem, flower essences hone in on the underlying story.