Week 11 - Flowers - (52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks)

 Women and flowers just seem to go together. Whether it's flowers that a women grows or flowers that are given to her.  This week I will talk about the connections that flowers have between me and my mother in law and daughter.  

My mother in law, Caroline, passed away in 2002 but one of the things that I will always associate with her are flowers, specifically, African Violets.  She had a vintage library table in her dining room that everyone called the "Flower Table".  It was always covered with multiple pots of African Violets with various houseplants mixed in.  If a leaf broke off of something, she would just push it back into the soil and it would grow.  Her violets were beautiful.  My husband has childhood memories of helping her take care of them. After she passed, alot of the family took one of her plants home.  Sadly, ours did not last long under my care, but did remind us of her for a little while.  

This the flower table but the Violets had already been rehomed.  

Another flower that connects me to Caroline, is called a Rose Campion.  It has fuzzy leaves and magenta blooms.  One day, we were sitting in her backyard and I noticed something growing in her lawn. She did not know what they were and they were always cut short whenever the lawn was mowed.  At the time, I had been trying to grow Lamb's Ears in my garden, another fuzzy plant.  So I thought that maybe that was what they were.  I asked if I could dig a few up.  I took them home and planted them, they grew well and to my surprise they were not Lamb's Ear.  When we moved from that home to another, I took some with me and they have been growing here happily for the last 33 years.  Fortunately for me, they self sow and come back each year.  My daughter took some last summer. Hopefully they will come up for her this year.  

Rose Campion

One last flower that will always be connected to me is Milkweed.  About 15 years ago or so, I began to plant Milkweed in hopes of attracting the Monarch butterfly to my yard.  It worked!  I have been raising Monarchs ever since.  Being wildflowers, these come back each year and sometimes spread.  But having the Milkweed in my garden has presented a nice opportunity to do something with my grandkids.  They loved watching the caterpillars and butterflies with me and helping raise them.  This has been another pastime that my daughter has continued in her yard. She has taken it a step further however, and uses the Monarchs as a teaching tool each September in her 3 & 4 year old preschool classes.  

It's amazing  how such common things can tie us together and keep memories and traditions alive.

Swamp Milkweed 

Butterflyweed (another type of milkweed)

Monarch & Swamp Milkweed

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