Petunia

Petunia flower essence helps to establish proper psychological behaviour patterns. It puts you into the right mental state to examine your priorities. It is helpful for children who are overly mischievous or hyperactive. It's also recommended for people who are too logical and elderly people, because it enables them to eliminate what is unnecessary and focus on what's important.

Petunia flower essence can be used with animals if you're attempting to break bad habits and the previous things you've used to reward and punish them have not worked. It's also used when teaching them a new way to behave because it helps them to absorb the new information more easily.

It's an essence that treats mental states and I have used it for overly mischievous adults who don't take life seriously when they need to. When I was photographing it I was thinking of a story about my mischievous boy that recently encouraged me to be mischievous too.

Noah is 8 and, amongst other things, he's at the age where swearing and information about sex are the most interesting and naughty topics of conversation in the playground. There is little actual knowledge but much enthusiasm about both these topics. He is particularly taken with the V sign and its ability to enable him to swear without actually saying anything out loud. Perfect for long car journeys.

He had been playing with a pin art board and pressed a V sign into it before putting it on a table next to an elderly lady. He grabbed my hand in hysterical laughter and we both ran home laughing our heads off. I really shouldn't have laughed but I was laughing at the sheer joy of hearing him laugh to start with until I really got hysterical too. After we'd calmed down I said we'd been pretty naughty really and it might have given the lady a fright.

Noah: But mum she's too old to really know about swearing, she won't know what it means.
Me: I think everybody knows what it means.
Noah: I'm not really sure what it definitely actually means. Mum, what does it mean?