-It's a rainy day?
-It's a sunny day?
-I'm happy
-I'm sad
-It's a special occasion.
-It's not a special occasion.
I love flowers. Especially the ones that you can cut from the garden or yard (not so much the hot house ones- but if that is all I can get - I'll take those too!)
Growing up in a family of 9 - yes I said 9 -I was the baby of 5 brothers and 3 sisters. We had a lot of fun and a lot of craziness in our home. My Mom had her hands full. One of the ways I think she brought joy into our home was simply through flowers. The house might be in a mess but just add flowers! She made flower arrangements from spring to late fall and even into winter if she could find some pretty unique shaped dried flowers or berries. She was able to make a beautiful bouquet that lasted into winter (Sometimes keeping them a bit too long until they fell apart!). But it would start again in spring. There were daffodils- we had several varieties: a bright yellow, a lighter yellow with a darker center and then one my Mom called the scrambled eggs. It was kind of a messy all over with no true center. I actually did not like the scrambled eggs when I was little, but would love them now because they have a sweet memory attached to them. But my favorite for spring were Dogwoods. I loved their simple white and even sometimes pink flowers on those sturdy wooden stems. At first blooms my mother would start the arrangements. The flowers would continue to come into our home with whatever was in bloom. There were Iris - we had two purple varieties. Then apple tree, wild cherry and crap apple blooms. There was also this bush (that would overgrow into a tree) that had tiny white flowers in clusters. My Dad had a hard time keeping it under control it grew and multiplied. My Mom used those tiny white flowers all summer mixing it in with whatever else was available.It was the best filler and was always in good supply and lasted most of the summer. There were wildflowers and roses. One of my Moms favorite was a tiny little bush that had little pink blossoms. It was always getting ran over by the lawn mower and she would nurse it back to life and put thing around it to save it for another year. The other thing that got ran over by the lawn mower were the day lilies but they were still in abundance. We had orange ones like these:
My Mom had a green vase - it is (I still have it) a small pedestal but the vase part is very shallow. She would put a dozen or so into it- cutting off the long stems and letting just the flower rest in the water. They only lasted a day but she kept refilling the vase or picking the stems with a second bud ready to bloom the next day.
She also loved hydrangeas but had a hard time getting a bush to grow at our house. She finally did and cherished it greatly - again guarding it from the evil lawn mower and weed whacker.
Going on into late summer we sometimes had zinnias and black-eyed susans from the vegetable garden. One of my favorite late summer ones were the wild golden rods. They grew in abundance all around our fields. My Mom mixed them in with everything when they were in bloom.
Life was always busy with a big family. Plenty of chores to be done (or put off to another day), but never is life so busy that we should not stop and just add flowers!
My Mom passed away suddenly several years ago. I miss her greatly. I think of her often and especially every time I'm making my own arrangements. My favorites will always be garden cut flowers or even wild ones. But no matter what life brings I'll remember to just add flowers!
