Windsurfer said in a (photo) post...

"It is wonderful when a flower reminds you of pleasant times"...Every spring when I was little my mother would show us buds on a plant and every day there was an update, how much bigger the bud was, how beautiful it would be when it blooomed, etc. My sibs and I were always so excited...then came the day it was going to bloom...We were put to bed with this great sense of anticipation. The folks woke us after dark to see this beautiful flower bloom...You got it..the Night Blooming Cereus. After it was fully open my dad made a big deal of cutting it, putting it in a glass of water and straight into the fridge where it kept for a couple of days. They would open the fridge to let us peek always building up the anticipation for us. 40 years later this is still my favorite. BF and I sat and watched one open recently and took loads of pics...not a one came out well enough to post. What's your favorite flower memory??

oh how wonderful,That is a great memory to have,are you going to pass it on oneday???
I think my favoite flower was and still is daisies,I remember way back when,I was a young girl in love with our paperboy and I remember sitting for hours in our fields
of daisies ,pulling them one by one,and saying
( He loves Me , He loves me Not ) lol

Mimosa trees would be mine. When we were little we had a pool. I remember I would lay on the air raft and look up at the sky and just smell the air. The mimosa's would be in bloom and the smell was just wonderful. I also like Gardenia's because my grandmaw had a huge one by her back door. We would go visit her and her back door would be open and her little house would smell the gardenia's...ahhh, what a neat thread this is...Lisa

Hmmmm...favorite flower memory! Definitely Gardenia! Why? When very young we had gardenia bushes in our front yard (not far from you, Floridian! Bradenton/Palmetto area!)...every Sunday morning me and my two brothers had to go out and pick two gardenias each...one to stick in our button hole on our pocket, the other to give to our respective Sunday School teachers! People often commented on us at Church. It may have had a small "back-fire" tho! It seems that when the congregation DIDN'T SMELL GARDENIAS(!) they knew the Griffin family didn't show up for services! To this day they are my favorite...the smell, the color, the memories!

Hollyhocks. My grandmother had a big patch on the east side of her house and front porch and she taught me very young how to make hollyhock ballerinas and dance them across the porch railings. Lemonade and hollyhock ballerinas are two of my favorite summer memories (right up there with chasing field mice and garter snakes from under the round bales).

Avacado seedlings....I planted one when I was about 4 and then had to plant every one I could get my hands on....when we moved out of the house in Concord I was 6 and we left the new owners over a hundred potted and growing avacado trees! I still can't resist planting them!

My grandparents had a purple lilac bush outside one of the guest bedroom windows; you guessed it, when I'd stay there, I always wanted that bedroom! The smell would waft inside on those early summer evening breezes and perfume the air. Grandma and grandpa are both with the Lord now, but smelling our neighbor's lilac through our office window at night brings back warm feelings and happy memories.

Foridian that is a beautiful memory as well as all the other's that are posted here. I remember that we didn't have enough space for too many flowers just two, Peony and the cockscombs. There were 16 kids in our family me being the baby. So mom would use the space for vegetables to help feed the family. The Cockscomb that we had was red and I thought that it was funny because it looked like a chickens head. I got the biggest kick out poping the seeds out of the flower. Mom caught me eating the seeds because I thought that they would taste sweet like cherries or strawberries. She made me stop and to this day I love to pick the seeds out of the base of the Cockscombs. I was five years old then and it was just one of those sun filled breezey days. Mom is gone but she is still in my garden everytime I plant a cockscomb, I know that she is watching.

We had lilac bushes along one side of my childhood home and everytime I smell one now, it brings back warm memories. We also had peonies and I remember being fascinated by watching the ants because my mom said they opened the flowers. It created an interest in insects/science that my parents supported until one summer day a few years later. I took all of my mother's lipstick outside, along with a magnifying glass and decided to find out if ants could swim in melted lipstick! By the way, I only conducted that experiment once! lol

My favorite memory is in my front yard (50 years later). When I was about 12 years old my mother planted a ROSE OF SRARON in our yard. I was old enough to mow the lawn and each time it came time for that chore my mother would follow me to the yard and make me cut around the bush first so I wouldn't do any damage to it. After I married my mother in law asked for a cutting and my mother willingly gave of the plant. My mother passed away in 1975 and and that time I wasn't into flowers and realized later that the plant in my mother-in-laws yard was a cutting from the plant that I cut around so many times under my mother's watchful eye. Yeah you guessed it. It now resides in my yard after my m-i-l died last year. If only my mother knew and I think she does. Jim

Gardenia.

My mother never was one to be overly fancy or frilly, but every easter she would order one gardenia from the local flower shop to wear on her easter dress. She would open the box slowly in front of us all and let us sniff.."but don't touch because the petals are very sensitive"... I think of my mom every time I smell it.

Georgiaredclay your mother does know and I bet she was laughing as you were typing your story. Memories are so wonderful and every time you smell or see a plant that brings these back, it makes you appreciate your life more.

This message was edited Friday, Jun 29th 7:15 PM

This message was edited Friday, Jun 29th 7:16 PM

That I am still thrilled by each iris bloom continues to amaze me. After I left home Mother would call each year to announce the predicted date of the first iris blooms. Like others have mentioned, my Mother is so present when new plants go into the garden, and, of course, when they bloom.

Roses,

As a child Mom would snip some beautiful rose blossoms and carefully wrap them in waxed paper. She'd make a beautiful bouquet for me to take to school to give to my teacher. Every time I smell a rose I think of clutching that bouquet walking to school and how proud I was when I gave it to my teacher. She would put them in a vase on her desk and I was so pleased to share something so beautiful with my teacher who I loved.

I won't plant a rose in my garden that does not have fragrance no matter how beautiful it may be. When I stick my nose into a rose blossom I feel cheated if it has no smell.

I really enjoyed reading all of your memories,they remind me of a time when things were not so fast paced and you had a little time to enjoy the things that were important to you.

Roses for me to Loon. Always loved to watch the petals unfurl, to put the petals to my lips and pop them to release more of that heavenly smell.

Jerrie

Windsurffer...I can relate to your feelings and memories regarding your late mom .My mom's small front yard consisted of hollyhocks,4'o'clocks,lantana,a couple of rose bushes,and petunias.I always 'feel' her in my yard,admiring my plants.She passed away in '89.It was the most devastating thing I have ever experienced and took a good two years to finally accept it.I have a corner area on the side of our house that I consider as a memory or tribute to my mom .This is a very peaceful,and heart-warming area .It is a 3 level raised bed and very pretty!I don't remember planting her 4 o'clks there, but they are there! I pluck some of the blooms just to get a whiff of the fragrance which brings back alot of old-time memories!I have a sm garden angel and a madonna there,too .Everytime I water there ,seems like a prayer is always at the tip of my tongue where I do not feel that way in other parts of our big yard.She must truly like that area ,too! Loving memories are so wonderful! Hey,I think I'll name that garden area just that! ..Jane

Jane I think that's a wonderful idea, and as long as your here...she is still here.

Hi again W/S! Thinking here maybe you need to start a new thread w/memories of plants and moms .Bet there would be many posts b/c I think everyone has a flower or plant that reminds them of their favorite pasttimes of their mom's garden.And another reason b/c I had the darndest time finding thread where I had posted re my mom!Been to the board 3x looking for it!But as it goes , last one you look at ,last one it is!LOL!...Jane....O and I truly enjoy reading these memories!