Flowers in a garden that evoke fond memories from childhood

My Ma always put a small vase of lily-of-the-valley, the birth flower for May representing humility and happiness, on the breakfast table on my birthday.

Sweet peas always remind me of my paternal grandma.

I always managed to find a bunch for her birthday in January and Mother's Day. I still try to find some for these special days now 28yrs after we lost her.

As a child we had a beautiful lilac tree in our garden and underneath my Mum planted lily of the valley - which she loved. She was Welsh and always had daffodils on St Davids day and gave lots of people bunches, this is something I do aswell as making loads of welshcakes to give away!

Rhododendrons and carnations are the two flowers that bring back happy memories of my childhood. I went to a boarding school which was run by lovely Nuns and I just loved it there. In the spring the Rhododendrons would be spectacular and it was the first place I had ever seen carnations which I thought were so pretty.

Pinks. My grandparents and parents had them and I love them to this day.

And... Daffodils. My Mum always insisted we had a bunch in the house on St David's Day - she was Welsh. I still continue the tradition.

Daisies - memories of making daisy chains on visits to the park, we didn't have a garden.

Dahlias - my Dad grew them and when we had them in the house earwigs would crawl out of them!

Gladioli remind me of Grandad, he grew magnificent show specimens. As a child, I saved my pocket money and bought enormous water jugs from wash stand sets at the local jumble sale for him to display them in. My Great Aunt had a lovely old cottage with lavender hedges, edging and dividing her garden, the scent was intoxicating. Dad taught me how to weave lavender sachets with ribbon. The same Aunt had violets in her garden, and she gave me a small clump about 50 years ago. Every house move since, some of the violets have moved with me, and after my last move in 2019, they are now flowering in my new garden.

Lupins, delphiniums, hollyhocks, stocks, honeysuckle, roses etc. But mainly the smell of two lilac trees, one true lilac, and the other a deeper purple which used to waft through my bedroom window.

All the spring wildflowers, celandines, primroses, cowslips, bluebells, bring back memories of walking to school along a country lane.

We used to love St David’s Day as children because it meant a half day holiday from school. We used to take a picnic to a small village where my mother was brought up and wander through the lanes hoping to find early primroses. There were always hundreds of celandines and and if we were lucky a cowslip. My mother, being a country girl, knew the names of all the wild flowers, birds and trees. They were happy days!

Freesias remind me of my little bouquet when I was a bridesmaid aged 7 (60 years ago)!
Antirhinum we’re always called bunny rabbits in my grandmas garden ?

Am I the only GN with fond memories of dandelions? Our neighbour was an old man who's garden was full of dandelions (and bees) in the spring. We used to wander in (permitted) to collect bees in a jam-jar, then let them go. Happy, carefree days!

Dahlias, my grandad used to plant dozens of them every year throughout my childhood.

My dad loved roses and had several bushes that he was very proud of. He also grew lupins when I was a child. And beds full of French Marigolds. I always think of him when I see them, and the garden I played in when I was a little girl.

Bronze chrysanthemums and mauve michaelmas daisies were my dad's favourites and the garden was full of them. Tobacco plants remind me of school, outside our window in my first year at senior school was a bed full of them. As I grew older I thought maybe that was inappropriate .

Daffodils. When I was in the infants - many many years ago, each year we were given some daff bulbs to grow at home and bring them bring them back for judging when in bloom. Somehow I always managed to come home with a winning certificate and it gave me a love of daffs to this day.

What a wonderful thread. I am a wild flower enthusiast and remember that, when I was a child, a great aunt who lived in the south west sent me a few primrose plants from her garden. She had carefully packed them in damp moss, and put them in a small tin so they would not be damaged en route. We lived hundreds of miles away in the north, and on the edge of bleak moorland where primroses did not grow. I appreciated these as much as any present I had ever been given.

I love garden flowers, too - and remember one small back garden belonging to a house our family lived in for about a year when I was four. There was a patch of rose campion ( I now can identify as lychnis coronaria!) with very deep pink flowers and grey-green velvety leaves, which I was fascinated by, and loved to stroke. I bought one of these plants at a sale recently for old times' sake.

Michaelmas daisies are my favourite.they come out in sept when my birthday is.also love poppies

Primroses in the steep banks either side of the single track lanes in South Wales. We visited Mamgu and Grandad regularly and used to walk from their home to my Aunt’s. There was very little traffic in those days and I don’t ever recall encountering any on our jaunts. We would have had to have scrabbled up the bank amongst the primroses if we had!

Asters - the double pom pom ones - remind me of my dad; he always grew them and sweet peas. Hollyhocks also remind me of my childhood garden.

Yellow roses remind me if my mum as we had a whole wall of them in a our garden and freesias because my dad loved them and so do I.
When they each passed away I ensured they both had their favourite flowers as part of their floral tributes.

Solomon's seal...rarely see that now.
I had that and it was very pretty but I rooted it out recently because it spread and also it got sawfly larvae.

Lilac takes me straight back to early childhood, we had a hedge of it round our garden. Also chrysanthemums that my dad grew very well, he would give them to anyone who visited. He had very little all his life but was happy to give to others.

In my gran's garden:

A pink climbing rose and a cream climbing rose which both had amazing scents.

Wallflowers, deep reds and oranges.

Solomon's seal...rarely see that now.

Lily of the Valley...delighted to find them when I moved to this house

Gooseberry bush

Damson and plum trees

Cooking apple tree, a desert apple tree. I have always loved apple blossom, reminds me of her.

I was so fond of that little garden, she loved it. At her friends allotment we would pick lots of blackcurrants and gather blackberries on the way home.