Flowers
A Vignette
By Maryanne Peters

A florist is not a job for a young man, or so my father told me. It was just that I was always a delicate person. I still am.

There is something about flowers that touched me deep in my soul. This is something that is made by nature to look pretty, smell enchanting and taste sweet. What is there in all creation that exists purely for joy? Well, perhaps there is another thing – certain nerve endings. Did you know that flowers are the sex organ of a plant? It is all about sex in the end.

Flowering plants came into being perhaps 150 million years ago – scientists still argue about it. The simple principle is how plants and trees that are rooted to the ground, can have sex with other plants also stuck where they are?

The answer is that they can throw their seed to the wind (as some still do) or they can use “pollinators” usually insects or birds that will carry their seed just where it is needed. Over time the successful plants were those that developed ways to attract pollinators – enticements if you like. Bright colors and patterns, pungent scents and sweet nectar will do the job. It did the job for me too, but I am getting ahead of myself.

Flower arrangement deals with everything but the nectar. Let me explain how it works. You need a pattern that is balanced, with height and volume, and colors that work together. They can be complimentary colors or contrasting colors, but there are combinations that work and combinations that don’t. You need to be careful with petals. I think that the texture of petals is the most wonderful thing to the touch. I look for a smooth matte finish totally without blemishes. I prefer pastel shades – pinks, ambers and yellows, but sometimes powder blue and lilac.

Then there is the perfume. Flowers are still the major source of the scents for the world’s perfume industry, and the purpose of their evolution to attract pollinators as the vehicles for sex. The power of evolved odors to lure is millions of years in development. I find the whole notion fascinating.

I have said to myself more than once that I was not transgender before I immersed myself in flowers, but how could I ever know that was true? My sexually mature years have been fully immersed in things floral. It is just that everything that is wonderful about flowers is feminine, and so I was drawn to those things. I wanted my skin to be smooth and soft as a petal. I wanted my face and hair – the head of the floral me - to be presented for beauty. I wanted to step into the world emanating a fragrance that made people smile and then drew them to me.

Arrangements affect people, as I know only too well. I arranged myself in a manner to attract, and women as well as men were drawn in. I always put nature first. I did not apply much makeup beyond some mascara and lipstick to add contrast and color. I applied myself to developing that petal skin and that included hormone creams and later tablets, which had the effect of changing my shape in a way that I quickly concluded was an improvement. I never deliberately wore anything overtly feminine, but I always prefer pastel tones and a kaftan is not a dress.

But as I said, flowers are sexual by their very existence, and (to use the correct names) stamens are male, pistils are female. One delivers the pollen, the sperm if you like, and the other receives. I found myself incapable of delivery so my floral future was female.

Oh yes, that is me on my wedding day. Of course I have explained that even after the expensive surgery he paid for, I am his beautiful blossom but sadly sterile. In terms of sexual purpose I only exist for his pleasure – to look beautiful, to smell marvelous and to receive his seed.

Where would the world be without flowers? A very sad place, I think.

The End
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© Maryanne Peters 2024

Author's Note: Sex can be a beautiful thing. There is a thought to amuse you during my absence. MP