Plants naturally stir memories. Scents unlock them—think of your California grandmother’s jasmine…
Let your garden remind you of people, events and places:
⫷ Note who gave you a seedling or cutting in your garden record. Plant your Dad’s favorite flowers. As you walk around your garden, people will spring to mind among the ferns.
My sister’s morning glories…
⫷ When you move, take some of your favorite plants to recall your old garden. Ask the former owner of your new place for plants’ stories. Knowing that this lilac was grown from a cutting from a lilac that came over the Oregon Trail, or that these white flowered Lunaria sprang up after a young daughter’s tragic death surrounds you with memories.
⫷ Bury your dog’s collar under a plant that reminds you of him.
⫷ On vacation, collect a plant, buy seeds, pick up some driftwood or stones and make a vacation memory vignette back home. Or buy a plant which you’d first seen on vacation and attach your memories.
⫷ Enjoy plants as private jokes, like the Chaste tree-Vitex- you gave your
daughter on her 13thbirthday…
⫷ Honor a long married couple with a collection of plants with names of their children & places lived. Daylilies, Iris, Roses, Hostas etc. have many named cultivars. A little research will put it together.
⫷ If your mother loves a certain plant, or you share a special memory associated with one, plant it in her honor. After the 4thtime Mom had to tell me what that stunning plant was on our plant tour, she said “Why can’t you remember Weigela?” Now I remember her with this one:
from the Evening Garden Club
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