How Does Your Garden Grow?

When Ruth was here, she told me one night Mom kept getting up out of bed to tell her which flowers she must plant in her vegetable garden. Ruth and her family have a large, beautiful, productive garden. Mom has always admired the garden, but all of a sudden found it concerning that there were no flowers.

Sure enough, one morning (was it the next morning?) as I sat at the table with Mom and Ruth, Mom began talking about Ruth's garden and its need of flowers. I asked Mom what flowers her mother planted in the vegetable garden. She said "Mama" liked hollyhock,


zinnias,


and sweetpeas.


She recalled a special vase that Aunt Helen had from childhood, with holes in the lid for the sweetpeas.

Mom also recalled how her grandmother, originally from Switzerland, always had larkspur


and petunias. She remembered their sweet smell.



I wrote the flower names down. I'm a gardener wannabe, and if I ever get out of the Piney Woods and into the sunshine, I would love to plant some heirloom flowers in honor of my mom, my grandma, and my great-grandma.