Favorite Flowers

In addition to Veggies, flowers have always played a big role to those I love.  My Grandmother had a loft area where she contained her obsession with over wintering geraniums.  My mother has grown lily of the valley in almost every place we lived.  As a child we used to admire the small upside down tea cups and assume the Faeries used them.

 

Lily of the Valley in my Mother's garden

 

When I was little my other Grandmother has a rose garden right outside of her sun room.  She tended to these roses and yelled at the grandkids if we ever had a ball go astray into them.  My favorite of all her varieties was a yellow rose with red tips, she told me it was called a peace rose.  When we moved into our first house, that was her house warming gift to us.  I love roses.  I love how unhinged old roses can be.  I find it fascinating that roses can genetically date back to their ancestors over hundreds of years ago.  Personally, I’m in love with David Austin roses and have a small rose garden started at the new house.  Hoping that this spring has several blooms for us to admire.  I tend to favor white, cream, orange and of course those that are yellow with red tips. 

 

I love lilacs.  I love their early spring arrival, short lived blooms and fragrant smells.  Every place I have ever lived has had lilac bushes.  Our old house, we planted well over 30.  Turns out, lilacs don’t thrive in the warm winters of the South, so I’m on the hunt for a variety that can survive.

Lilacs

 

Peony’s are another favorite.  There is nothing better than having a well established Peony and watching the late spring glory of the blooms. 

Peonies from the Garden 

 

There is a street you have to take to get to my parents house from the highway. Its a two land road with houses on both sides. There are some really cute original farm houses on the street. In the spring, for a brief moment of time, you could find a few lots that had huge orange poppies growing. They were so beautiful. One year, for whatever reason, a section of the yard in one of the old farm houses had an over abundance of poppies. So many the owners eventually had to mow and resod the area to get them under control. But for a few weeks, it was so beautiful. Every time I see a poppy I hear my mother quoting the Wizard of Oz. "Poooopppiiiesss". They come in red, orange and PINK.

 

Pink poppy (Papaver Orientale) 

 

My recent flower obsession has lead us to Dahlia’s, Zinnia’s, Cosmo‘s and Scabiosa.  These cut and come again lovelies provide so much joy.  The ability to watch their genetics at work year after year is so fun.  And the pollinators attracted to the blooms makes for such fun watching.  My boys and I get very close and observe the different types of Bees that bounce around on the flowers.  In Central Arkansas, the flowers are a favorite for hummingbirds.  If you haven’t watch the behaviors of hummingbirds, I recommend it.