After one of the coldest winters on record, spring has finally arrived in New Orleans. Trees are bursting into leaf everywhere you look, the birds are chirping happily as they build their nests, and my garden is once again filled with blooms.
Some of the plants I lost to our long, hard freeze were dear to my heart, having been grown from cuttings of plants my mother had grown from cuttings taken years ago from her mother's garden. But there is still so much left.
So why did I name this post "A Mother's Gifts"? Because my love of gardens is one of the many things I inherited from my mother. And because when I moved here to New Orleans from Australia, this Lady Banks rose was one of the first plants my mother gave me...
It's still here, even though she is gone. And whenever I see it, I smile.
10 comments:
Wonderful Southern passalong garden tradition. There may be growth from the roots once the nighttime temps stay above 60. Don't dig up the brown plants yet!
That was touching. And Lainey's right-- don't give up hope!
I still have dahlias in the garden that my maternal grandmother gave me. I've lost so many, but I still have three left. I have to go and dig them up for the winter soon. And that plant is covered in flowers - it looks gorgeous!
Beautiful.
lx
Lainey, I haven't dug anything up yet, but I didn't know about the nighttime temps over 60 rule. Thanks.
Steve, I'm still hopeful. But...
Orannia, I forgot you were a Kiwi, too. Those kinds of plants really are dear to our hearts.
Liz, thanks.
My Raja Puri banana plant, my gingers, my scheffleras are all coming back from the ground.
Houston is at 29 degrees 45 minutes latitude; New Orleans at 29 degrees 57 minutes. So there's hope for your beloved heirloom plants!
Beautiful flowers, and a wonderful legacy. As I've told you before, I love gardens but hate the act of gardening, plus I can't take the heat, so my own yard is pitifully bare. (I also have dogs who dig up anything that's planted.) I am going to invite myself by within the next couple of weeks to view your lovely garden while the blooming's at its height!
Lainey, That's good to hear. Over the weekend, my duranta and orchid tree both finally started showing signs of life. But the fleur d'amour, hybiscus, mock orange, ficus, and butterfly gardena are still looking dead, dead, dead.
Elora, you've got to come see this Lady Banks: fifteen by twenty feet of cascading white blossoms. It's never been this gorgeous.
Very nice. A fine tribute. Such memories are such a blessing, although for me right now I'm trying to do a little supressing of them.
Charles, I'm doing a lot of suppressing myself at the moment.
Post a Comment