My Great-great-grandmother's flowers

[897tgigvib]

Lesa, can you go to that place and collect some of the seeds? Actually, the perennial sweet Pea, I think called Lathyrus Latifolia grows the way you describe. Muted shades of pink to white, not much aroma, but in huge clusters. There are a lot of that kind growing down in Potter Valley along the roads. But maybe your grandmother's were a different kind.

 

[lesa]

That sounds about right...I can't remember if they had an aroma or not. I took a little transplant from a friend's garden, years ago. So, I have lots of sweet peas of my own! In fact, I found a piece growing inside the greenhouse in the grass! I love it in my garden for the memories- and the hummingbirds!

 

[digitS']

Journey, you are lucky to even know who your great-great-grandmother was and what she did.

About the best I could come up with would be names, dates and places. I know that one was widowed while she still had young children at home. I mean, that's it! We have 8 great-great-grandmothers and that is the best I can do.

I doubt if they would have chosen to be forgotten.

Steve

 

[journey11]

Grandma Kitty planted these flowers when she came to live with my Grandma for a few years. She must have been in her 80's, but they say she was very active right up til the end. My mom got to meet her. My parents were dating at the time. I imagine these were starts off of the flowers she had back at her home.

I don't have much of the written geneology for my family tree...the full names, dates, where they lived and such. But on this branch of the family I have quite a few old photos that my grandma scanned for me. They say she had the bluest eyes. She had 5 kids and was a school teacher. She made 100's of quilts in her lifetime and I also have 3 of those.



Here's a pic of her husband. I thought it was a cool pic.



There is a blog I follow called Forgotten Old Photos. They post vintage photos purchased from antique dealers and sometimes are even able to reunite the photo with its family. I love looking at old pics and imagining what their lives were like. When I get to go hiking or mushroom hunting I often find old home sites, only evident by a few foundation stones and old perennials run rampant. So romantic to me and really sparks my imagination.

I like to imagine some of the beauty I have planted over the years, might live on, after I am gone...

What a lovely thought that is, Lesa. We'll have to make some effort to see that that happens, huh.

Isn't amazing how long some flower live. I have some my grandmother planted over 50 years ago.

I need to be planting more things like that...flowers that can look after themselves. Old daffodils spread out everywhere and make a nice sea of bloom when they've naturalized over so many years. Old roses are so hardy and disease resistant, almost nothing can kill them. The irises however desperately need some division though. They almost quit blooming entirely when they get too crowded. I think I will dig quite a few to add to my big new flowerbed around front (finally got it in!)

I'm going to do some searching and see how to propagate sweet shrub. It doesn't seem to have shoots like old lilacs do and I'm not certain about soft-wood cuttings. This sweet shrub is on steep hillside too, so I can't really get in there to try to dig a piece up.