bronze fennel has been busy propagating itself.

[bj taylor]

cleaning a bed today & there they were, little wisps of fennel here & there. And, the one i thought had died last year is coming back. i need to look & see if it's any good for kitchen uses. it's pretty stuff. i have it in my little memory garden that i have in rememberance of loved ones who have passed.

 

[897tgigvib]

Memory garden, what a very wonderful idea.

 

[digitS']

It is a wonderful idea.

A collection of garden plants become something of legacy of the gardener, also. I remember visiting my grandmother's garden on the Fraser River in Canada about 15 years after she had lived there. I actually became aware of the world at the age of 3 & 4 in my grandmother's home and garden but she was living in California by that time. So, here I was back where she had moved from in British Columbia. Some of what she had planted there remained ~ hollyhocks, iris . . . I remember thinking that so many years had passed but I was very young and 15 years seemed like a good many to me.

In my own garden, I not only have some things that I propagate each year over a long time but, like your bronze fennel, I have volunteer annuals, too. Probably 20 years ago, I bought a packet of Bouquet Dill. It isn't really much different as a dill variety but it's the one I've got. Every year, plants show up and are allowed to grow and set seeds.

I don't know if any of these things will have any special meaning to anyone else but, these plants have importance in the gardener's appreciation of them. Don't you think?

Steve

 

[bj taylor]

yes, i absolutely feel that it doesn't matter what the plants are for this kind of garden - just that they bring you sweet memories. my dad is one of those now gone from me. just today an iris bloomed that he gave me. he brought be a huge load of iris because he thought i would love it. at the time, i thought ugh. i don't have time or inclination to make a bed for all of these. now, they are dispersed all over my garden & when they bloom, i feel blessed.

i enjoyed having my son close his eyes & i would put a plant under his nose. he would always act like i was going to put a spider down his shirt, but he would do it anyway. it was just a silly game. i have herbs in this memory garden that have scent that he would have liked.

when anyone else sees this specific spot, they don't know it's significance - it's just for me and my memories.

 

[nelson castro]

Memory garden, what a very wonderful idea.

It is indeed a very wonderful idea. It is a simple way to remember them.

 

[897tgigvib]

Sometimes it's just...



Lives that cross and overlap, affect each other, ripples and waves and splashes. That thing, time. Those ripples and waves and splashes continue, not just in the minds of those who knew, but secondary, tertiary, aw shoot, probably even past Earth's atmosphere. Somehow. Past the sky.

I believe that when I have the chance I will make a memory garden. See what it is about getting older? Most young only know this thing as theory, (some few know too well), but we live past those most special ones who cleared the road ahead, so many...a most special garden...it's already there in the mind...that geranium, those violets,

 

[vfem]

You guys are making me so nastalgic.... I've been like this all week, even a little weepy now things are sprouting.

I don't have bronze fennel, but the fennel I have just pops up everywhere and I used it my pot pies. I also add it to ground turkey with oregano and basil. When they seeds I steal some for recipes and leave the rest to selfsow.

Ok, off to fondly remember the days when we would find random things growing at my grandmother's.

 

[so lucky]

I'm sitting here trying to think if I have any plants passed down to me by loved ones, past or present, and I can't think of a darned thing. At the time when my parents were breaking up their household, Mom trying to get me to take a cutting of this or a clump of that, I was so busy with the actual work of taking care of two elderly and ill people, manage getting them into assisted living, oversee the sale of the house and belongings--all this besides tending to my own exhausting career--well, I just didn't want to mess with anything else. I just wanted that whole episode to be over. I guess if I hadn't been so consumed by my job for the previous 10 years or so, I would have been able to see past the present, and know that I would cherish the memories of her flower garden in years to come. I knew I wouldn't have to be employed forever, but it felt like it, then. I don't offer this revelation as an excuse, just a reason.

Well, Mom is still alive, and probably deeply insulted by my neglecting to take cuttings of her plants. I remembered that I do have some seed pods from some beautiful large red poppies I had bought for her. The pods are maybe 5 years old. Wonder what the chance of them being viable are? (dangling participle) Any ideas? Any suggestions?

 

[canesisters]

After Mom passed, Dad sent her pride and joy - a gigantic Christmas cactus - up to my house. It's only been in it's new home for a few months so hopefully it will settle in and make it's annual show this fall. I also had the 2 big peace lilies from my husband's funeral here at work. Something happened to one (I suspect neglegent coffee mug empting... ) but the other is doing well and blooms constantly. Out by the front porch is another little 'garden'. There are 2 hydrangeas (one from Mom's service and one from DH's) planted next to the steps and a planter box where Mom's hen & chicks mingle with mine.

 

[vfem]

I have some gorgeous peace lilies in my bathroom... I started with one, now I have 2, but I gave 2 away from all the times I've split them. I'm about to split them again. They pretty much bounce back from anything! I have faith yours will bounce back too, or you can just split the healthy one up.