Tolkien's Floral Fixation

[Faramir Jones]

A lovely passage I've always liked, since reading it in 'Of Tuor and his Coming to Gondolin' in Unfinished Tales, is Voronwë's description to Tuor of Nan-tathren, where he delayed in his mission to the Bay of Balar. In particular, I've always loved his description of the flowers there:

In that land Narog joins Sirion, and they haste no more, but flow broad and quiet through living meads; and all about the shining river are flaglilies like a blossoming forest; and the grass is filled with flowers, like gems, like bells, like flames of red and gold, like a waste of many-coloured stars in a firmament of green. (Emphasis mine)