Better known as a Celtic symbol, the thistle was rediscovered by British Arts & Crafts designer William Morris and those who followed. Only tartan evokes Scotland more than the humble weed, which was adopted by the Royal Stewart dynasty along with the Order of the Thistle motto Nemo me impune lacessit (“No one cuts/provokes me with impunity”).
The tenacious plant with long taproots and nasty barbs is hard to uproot, inflicting pain on those who would try, and it comes back all the stronger if any of the plant remains…an image the Scots have held dear for more than 500 years.
Symbolic also of nobility, hard work and suffering, and Christ’s deliverance, thistles are said to dispel melancholy. During the Middle Ages, white blotches on the Holy Thistle were said be the milk of the Virgin Mary. On the other hand, Abe Lincoln’s worst insult was to call someone a thistle.
Clearly drawn or stylized, the thistle is a common motif in the naturalistic and botanical designs of the Arts & Crafts movement and its revival. It continues to represent persistence and wild beauty.
Patricia Poore is Editor-in-chief of Old House Journal and Arts & Crafts Homes, as well as editorial director at Active Interest Media’s Home Group, overseeing New Old House, Traditional Building, and special-interest publications.
Poore joined Old House Journal when it was a Brooklyn-brownstoner newsletter in the late 1970s. She became owner and publisher and, except for the years 2002–2013, has been its editor. Poore founded the magazines Old-House Interiors (1995–2013) and Early Homes (2004–2017); their content is now available online and folded into Old-House Journal’s wider coverage. Poore also created GARBAGE magazine (1989–1994), the first unaffiliated environmental consumer magazine.
Poore has participated, hands-on, in several restorations, including her own homes: a 1911 brownstone in Park Slope, Brooklyn, and a 1904 Tudor–Shingle Style house in Gloucester, Massachusetts, where she brought up her boys and their wonderful dogs.