Posted on by Cathy

Do flowers remind you of people

Are there flowers in your life that are reminders of others
 People you have known during your life or have heard stories about

My mother grew Sweet Peas
No matter where we lived she would always find a place to grow them
My sister (who lived close to her) told me she was still growing them the summer she had her first stroke
BUT
Try as I may and have often done so I cannot get them to grow
No idea why, but they shrivel up and die
Autumn sowing or Spring planting doesn’t matter which
They just do not thrive

My Dad had a favourite that he grew in most of our gardens.
His gardening was usually confined to veggies but there was one small plant he always had growing somewhere in the garden
Said it reminded him of his Mum – our Granny
Over the years both my sisters have grown it as well.
It’s a real sentimental favourite with us.

That bank that runs alongside our front drive is a difficult spot and I’ve lost count of the number of plants been tried there
 The Golfer cleared more dead and dying out a few years ago and I stuck some Erigeron – Seaside Daisy – around about here and there.
Cuttings of Arctosis and Trailing Lantana (not a weed here in Victoria) thrived there as well as a ground cover Geranium (Cranesbill)

2009

Tucked away in one little corner where none of those others seemed to grow
is where I put a small pot of Dad’s favourite

The smallest flowering plant in my garden and one of the most loved
Snow in Summer – Cerastium tomentosum.
Over the next few summers it took over over that corner

I loved it – that little plant with soft grey foliage and tiny white flowers


Then my back took control of my life.
As well as me that little front garden really suffered
Because I couldn’t get down to keep things in order (trim/ cut back/weed) it really got out of hand so for the time being the slope has been returned to grass

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

I’m just finishing off my first early morning cup of tea and thinking that as ‘the back’ is behaving itself quite well at the moment maybe I’ll have a go at redoing that slope.
Once Victoria has had its usual bucket load of Winter rains there’s no telling what might come about in Spring
It’s possible I’ll learn the secrets to growing Sweet Peas
But somehow I think that where that’s concerned, working this (discovered in the garage in a box of ‘might do one day’ things) cross stitch kit will be a better bet

Pop over to Denyse’s blog to see the latest edition of Life this week
Linking to #MondayMusings  hosted by Corrine at Everyday Gyaan

29 Replies to “Do flowers remind you of people”

  1. I have failed on the sweet pea front too. Two measly (but lovely) blooms is the most I have achieved.
    I love snow in summer and should plant some more.
    Each year my father would go to a secret location and bring home armloads fronds from a bush packed with golden berries. He wouldn’t tell us where he found them. Now is about the time he would head out and I can picture them in the family home – always displayed in the same vase.

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    1. Oh EC I bet you wish you knew what they were – to put a name to something (even if you can’t have them) is better than having an ‘unfinished’ memory. Do your brothers know what they were?

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  2. Oh I haven’t heard of sweet peas for years but I know my Mum grew them. Daphne always reminds me of my Mum because that was her name. I rarely see it now. I also always think of my Mum when I see daffodils (short for Daph, I suppose), and think of my daughter when I see gerberas. Have a lovely week. #lifethisweek

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    1. You’re right Sue, I haven’t seen Daphne in nurseries for a few years either. Sweet Peas come to mind about this time each year – St Patrick’s Day is the unofficial seed sowing day down here in Melbourne. But because we (usually) aren’t here during the Winter I haven’t done so for years (nobody to tend them/they’ll fail anyway etc etc). If I’m in a good frame of mind maybe I’ll try again in Spring with seedlings from the nursery…..we’ll see.
      Thanks for your comment – daffodils are lovely sunny flowers as are big bright gerberas…..just right for those you love

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    1. lol Helen Sounds like next year is our ‘try once more/give it another go’ year. Wonder what it is with sweet peas that they’re a problem for some gardeners. Soil maybe

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    1. I love that expression ‘forever flowers’ rather than favourite. Those old fashioned plants are not fashionable which is a shame…I haven’t seen snapdragons or ‘bunny rabbits’ as we called them for years. You could pinch the flowers so they opened and closed a bit like a rabbits mouth. Must look up Rose of Sharon- I’ve an idea what it is the names familiar but can’t see the flowers

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  5. I was a teenager and bought a packet of sweet pea seeds from someone selling them to raise money for a charity. I tipped the packet out along a fence facing east, stuck up some chicken wire and away they went. I don’t remember watering them.

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  6. A particular variety of Sweet Peas is becoming a weed here in some bush settings of SA. I picked some of the seeds and intend trying to grow them in my garden. I have Snowflakes, Spanish Bluebells and Lavender from Dad’s garden and every year when the Portulaccas come up they also make me smile as I think of him.

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    1. Are you allowed to bring stuff out of the bush and into a suburban area? Will be interesting to see if they germinate and grow…also what colour flowers they produce.

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      1. They all seem to be a dark cerise colour. I know you can’t take native plants etc from a bush area but am pretty sure the only problem with me taking the Sweet Peas is that I didn’t take them all. Far too many for that but I will make sure I collect the seeds if any of mine grow.

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  7. Sweet peas won’t grow in my garden either. Really nothing flowery wants to grow only if I have a use for them. Quite strange, as I’d like them to grow.
    And yes some flowers remind me of people, but mostly it’s indoor plants. Like Sansevieria and Neria for my paternal grandmother.
    I feel with you on ‘the back’ front. Hopefully it lets you tend your garden in the coming year.

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    1. Will have to ask Mr G what Neria is Charlotte……I not heard of anything by that name. I’m also hoping the back behaves😊

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  8. My mom used to grow sweet peas, but the flower that always reminds me of her is a violet. She had them in her flower garden and allowed me to pick them for her. They smell so sweet and are her favorite color – violet!

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    1. I think there should be a movement to bring back‘cottage gardens’ or we are going to lose all these lovely old fashioned plants. We don’t hear of Violets being plantec these days….mind they do have a habit of running wild

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  9. My mother had a long metal trellis against the wall of the wooden garage where she had a climbing rose – but she couldn’t ever get it to bloom below a certain level UNTIL she discovered that I loved those buds and wherever I could reach to, they were there for my snacks!
    According to my Aunt when I was a teenager and we were living some place else, she would tell everyone “Catherine lived on rose buds and cheese” – this wan’t the luscious cheeses we know of today but the wrapped Cheesdale slices that had a velvet like texture from the process they used to make them!

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    1. Oh wow what a strange lady/girl were Cathy……. Rubber cheese and rose petals….sounds like a great diet😊. I suppose if you can eat nasturtium flowers there’s nothing wrong in snacking on roses.

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    1. Thanks Debbie. I’m hoping I can return that patch to it’s former glory….might have to enlist The Golfer’s help this time. As for sweet peas, like I said….I’ll admit defeat and produce the flowers via the cross stitch kit 😊

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  12. I loved the question because it brought so much to mind. I think of Sweet William, hollyhocks, and tall Flags when I remember my grandmother. I have kept trying to keep these going in my yard. My husband prefers the Siberian flat topped Iris and I have had to keep him from digging up the Flags that came in our property

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    1. There’s those ‘old fashioned cottage garden’ plants again. Its such a shame that people seem to think smaller blocks mean smaller gardens (if any at all) and the world is losing those reminders of by gone days.

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  13. I am such a fan of sweet peas! I loved them as a child because Mum would do me a posy to take to the teacher. Over time, in the backyard at our Sydney house (we lived in the hotter area of the west) on a trellis I had some success. Yay. Today, as I write it is the traditional time to plant them: St Patricks Day. I used to do it in the hope by my granddaughter’s birthday some 6 months later, there would be sweetpeas for her to pick. Had success at the rental house we had before this one, and last year…nothing much at all. But I still love them. Thanks for the reminder.

    Thanks so much for linking up for Life This Week #231. Glad to have you add your post as part of the community here. Next week. the optional prompt is Good. Hope to see you there. Denyse.

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  14. Mum and my brother were the main gardeners when I was a kid. In our garden we had chrysanthemums, zinnias,a few hydrangea, a climbing mini-rose, gerberas…and to add a bit more colour and variation…coleus. And in the window boxes, portulaca…,And, there also was a trellis for sweet peas. Nothing was very ordered…just free-wheeling, free-growing variety of plants and colour..

    Take good care. 🙂

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