My mother was a passionate gardener who enjoyed the splendor she was able to share with others. She’d happily grab her pruners and cut flowers for neighbors and friends, sending them home with an armload of beautiful blooms. I loved getting her big bouquets, wrapped in newspaper, held together with a large hat pin. She told me her mother had always done the same with her beautiful roses. Flowers are a wonderful thing to share.
Somewhere along the way I lost sight of my love of flowers. I got wrapped up in my vegetables and fruits, thinking that if we couldn’t eat it, I shouldn’t grow it. When the first few daffodils and grape hyacinths emerged after our long grey winter I knew I’d be adding flowers back to my garden. I realize now that I have missed the color and beauty that flowers provide. I have plenty of room, so no veggies will suffer.
This is a good time of year to collect a few perennials from the garden center. They won’t look very good, but it’s really only the roots you’re after. Pick up those scraggly looking things for half off and tuck them in your garden. Locally our days have cooled off from our recent blast of heat so planting will be fine, it’s jut important to keep them well watered. Next spring and summer I’ll have a healthy plants ready for a bouquet.
A cutting garden is made for just that, cutting. My very favorites are delphiniums and I plan to have loads of them and keep their soil nice and sweet, just the way they like it. I’ll tuck in a small rose bush that is currently growing in a less than ideal location and I’ll add plenty of white flowers to showcase the variety of other colors I plan to have. Next summer when friends drop by I’ll follow the family tradition of sending them home with an armful of lovelies.
