Flower Memories

It struck me as I was lying in bed, looking at the lilac in full flower, that so many flowers we grow in our gardens, have poignant, happy memories and I am sure that is why we grow them.

Roses..... just has to be my Dad, as he had two beds in our garden at home, 

full of big blowsy tea roses.

My sister and I used to make "perfume" in jam jars with the petals, 

which we somehow wanted to preserve.

So roses are a great love of mine.

I also have to thank my Dad for my great passion for gardening. He gave me a patch of ground to grow my own flowers and I used to go gardening with him at weekends.

Sweet peas.....just has to be my Mum.....stretching back to her childhood with her own dad.....a continuous line of memories. 

 

 My Mum with her sweetpea row.

 My lilac, is a sucker from the lilac tree at home.....we`ve all got one.

At lilac time Mum filled the fireplace with huge powerfully perfumed vases of lilacs.

And we all had bunches to bring home.

Geraniums.....is my Grandad Magan. There were always pots of geraniums outside his back door, looking a bit sparse after winter.

 

 I take cuttings every year and I also often buy plugs. 

Grandad`s vase with geranium.

 And of course I remember his bean rows and the tomatoes in his greenhouse 

at the bottom of the garden.

My Mum and my Aunty Pauline admiring the bean row.

Fuchsias.....is my Granny Magan. She had a "Winston Churchill" in her front garden and people would pass by and ask for cuttings. 

Grape hyacinths....her front garden was full of them....and again roses with wicked thorns.....she always got scratched whilst pruning.

My other grandparents, Granny and Grandad Crutt had a rambling garden with roses gone wild....tiny roses which I think were "Dorothy Perkins." We always had to be careful in that garden and stick to the mown paths as our Dad warned us of the likelihood of treading on an adder. 

There were plenty around. It only added to the romance.

Scent can be so evocative.....honeysuckle perfume, drifting on a hot summer`s day......jasmine, reminding us of exotic holidays......sweetpeas, the living room at home with vases and vases of flowers.....

 .....bluebells, walks with Dad to collect pea sticks.

So many memories come to mind.

Walking down the garden path is like walking down memory lane.