With its dignified posture and elegant flower color, the language of flowers for this plant is “Unchanging love, purity, sincerity, and elegance.” Despite such symbolic meanings, the blooming bellflower is full of vitality. Just a few days ago, it had swollen buds resembling purple paper balloons, but perhaps enticed by the coolness of the mornings and evenings in recent days, they all burst into bloom simultaneously. It sounds like you can hear the sound of flowers blooming, one after another. The bellflowers that began to bloom from the mid-June rainy season take a break in the midst of summer. In this scorching heat, both people and flowers are alike. And now, bellflowers, counted among the seven autumn herbs, are finally taking the stage. However, the bellflowers lined up at the flower shop are mostly cultivated varieties, and it has become rare to see them bloom in the wild. When you go to the mountains, you often find yourself captivated by the bellflowers blooming between the rocks, but bellflowers are now an endangered species. Bellflowers have been cherished since the Manyoshu (the oldest anthology of Japanese poetry), but even in cultivated varieties, they bloom so beautifully, providing some consolation at the very least.

凛とした佇まいと気品のある花色から、その花言葉は「 変わらぬ愛、清楚、誠実、気品」 。そんな花言葉とは無関係に、咲いた桔梗は元気溌剌そのものです。数日前までは紫色の紙風船の様な蕾を膨らませていましたが、ここ数日の朝晩の涼しさに誘われたのか、一斉に花開きました。ポンポンポンと花開く音が聞こえて来そうです。６月中旬の梅雨時分から咲き始めた桔梗も夏の最中は一休み。この酷暑では人も花も同じです。そして今、秋の七草に数えられる桔梗もいよいよ出番です。しかし、花屋さんにヅラっと並んでいる桔梗はほとんどが栽培種で、自生で咲く姿は見られなくなってしまいました。山に行くと、岩間から咲く山桔梗に見惚れることがよくありましたが、桔梗は今や絶滅危惧種です。万葉以来親しまれてきた桔梗ですが、栽培種でもこんなに綺麗に咲くのですから、せめてもの慰めです。