Flowers and memory
general :: posted on November 20th, 2008
I must admit I have enjoyed watching the landscape shows that feature a family garden being renovated to something entirely new and different in a weekend, but when I think about it as an option my own garden I can’t help but wonder how I could enjoy a garden that isn’t full of plants that have a history.
I’m sure most people are the same - planting shrubs or trees or flowers at significant moments in our lives. Sometimes I’m the keeper, looking after a plant until the owner can claim it, like the cactus above that belongs to Craig and has grown significantly since he left it in my care years ago, but every time I see it and especially when it bursts into bloom I think about Craig.
And so the garden grows, with memories and love and pain.
November 20th, 2008 at 4:31 am
Wow, beautiful! I’ve never been able to get my cacti to bloom. I have memories attached to many houseplants, but not quite so much with the outdoor ones. We did give a Japanese maple to our neighbour kittycorner across the street for his 60th. They moved away later but I still think of them when I see that tree, grown huge now.
November 21st, 2008 at 9:36 am
I think I am worse at growing house plants than ourdoor plants - maybe that is one of the defining factors in deciding where we attach our precious memories! Occasionally I vist old gardens of mine and it is surprising how much the remaining plants bring back memories and also it is strange perhaps but I always picture the gardens as they were when I was there not as they are now! Its like a movie running in contradiction to reality - perhaps a touch of the crazy?
November 28th, 2008 at 5:58 pm
Nice cacti pictures Lindy. I also have sentimental plants. I have a plant growing crazy in my garden (Dierdre the waster) that was given to me by my brother in law George in the early 80s. She is no longer a pot plant and has become a huge deep purple ground cover, she’s part of the family and a memory and after all these years I still refer to her by the name George once gave her.