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Gardening

Flowers in a garden that evoke fond memories from childhood

(149 Posts)
Bakingmad0203 Mon 26-Apr-21 16:44:00

Wall flowers remind me of my Mum. She gave me a bunch to give to my infant school teacher, who said they were nicer than a box of chocolates! Funnily enough I love orange flowers.
My Mum had a very small garden with peonies, aubretia, lily of the valley, sweet william and wall flowers of course.

Callistemon Wed 28-Apr-21 12:34:30

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.

Exhaustedautismlady1970 Wed 28-Apr-21 12:39:16

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.

Flo53 Wed 28-Apr-21 12:44:33

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.

Secondwind Wed 28-Apr-21 12:46:29

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!

moggie57 Wed 28-Apr-21 12:56:37

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

cassandra264 Wed 28-Apr-21 12:56:41

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. smile

Petalpop Wed 28-Apr-21 13:14:37

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.

missdeke Wed 28-Apr-21 13:31:57

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 grin.

Moggycuddler Wed 28-Apr-21 13:45:36

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.

Rendella Wed 28-Apr-21 13:51:31

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

Davida1968 Wed 28-Apr-21 14:47:33

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!

Grandyma Wed 28-Apr-21 15:00:33

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 ?

Quaver22 Wed 28-Apr-21 15:54:04

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!

Severnsider Wed 28-Apr-21 16:24:52

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

Lexisgranny Wed 28-Apr-21 16:31:46

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.

Nancat Wed 28-Apr-21 16:43:10

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.

Happysexagenarian Wed 28-Apr-21 16:53:55

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!

Happysexagenarian Wed 28-Apr-21 16:56:57

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.

Musicgirl Wed 28-Apr-21 20:14:48

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

icanhandthemback Wed 28-Apr-21 20:43:51

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.

1summer Wed 28-Apr-21 22:23:23

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!

Harmonypuss Thu 29-Apr-21 01:33:43

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.

absent Thu 29-Apr-21 02:47:16

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.

Shropshirelass Thu 29-Apr-21 07:59:55

Freesias and anemones. My DF used to buy them for my DM every week. Freesias because they were in their wedding bouquet. Romantic gesture.

PinkCosmos Thu 29-Apr-21 08:09:41

There were redcurrant bushes by the side of the building where they made the school dinners, which was next to our school. Their smell always reminds me of school dinners.

Also, the smell when you go into a greenhouse full of tomatoes. My grandad had a big greenhouse which was full of tomatoes and I used to love the smell when you walked in.

My other grandad had an allotment and grew peas. I used to pop open the pods and eat the peas but leave the empty shell on the plant.

And another, when I was young there was a field near us which was always full of may flowers in the spring. We used to pick them. You don't see them in the fields much anymore.

This is a lovely topic. Thanks BakingMad for starting it.