Quote of the Day - 1/10/2012

Few plants evoke such nostalgia as the towering hollyhock.  A favorite since Shakespeare’s England, its stately spires of flowers inspire images of country gardens and cottages. - American Horticultural Society Practical Guides: Annuals & Biennials

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Hollyhocks remind me of a great aunt. The image of the flowers growing in the bed to the side of her house surrounding the steps to the side door - which just about everyone used as the main door to the house - is so vivid even after more than 40 years. If I didn’t have that memory, would this quote resonate with me? Probably not.

Do you have a hollyhock memory or are there other flowers that always trigger nostalgic thoughts?

Or approaching from another perspective: think of people that were important to you as a child and into young adulthood. Is there a flower you associate with them? It seems so for me; I associate:

• One grandfather with cannas because he grew so many of them. They were planted to be visible from the road and often screened the vegetable garden that was just beyond. Progeny of those cannas grow in my parents’ garden today.
• One grandmother with roses because she helped me make bouquets of them from her yard to take to my elementary school teachers.
• The other grandmother with gladiolus because everyone cut the long spires from the garden to put under the picture of her as a teenager. She seemed to enjoy having the flowers in the house when she returned from a day at the office.
• The other grandfather with black walnuts - I know not a flower…but I’m counting it anyway - because there was a black walnut tree beside the garage where he had a workshop where all his grandchildren enjoyed small projects with him.