Flower Stories: Flower Memories

Flowers have been a part of our lives for thousands of years. They offer a component of beauty that links our memories throughout time. Every time I experienced the scent of ‘Lily of the Valley,’ I am transported to my childhood and memories of my mother.

Here is my list:

• The first floral scent I remember? Lily of the Valley
• I discovered a violet along a path in Italy when I was six. I never imaged a beautiful flower could be found on a roadside.
• The first flower I grew was for a school science project. I remember guarding a red Zinnia in a Styrofoam cup all the way home and later planting it in the garden at home.
• I discovered a violet along a path in Italy when I was six. I never imagined a beautiful flower could be found on a roadside.
• I entered my first photography contest with a photo of a wildflower, and I won the teen category.
• My favorite artist in art school, Georgia O’Keefe, her point of view was a catalyst to look more closely at the world.
• My mother and aunt were notorious flower cutting thieves, even transporting them across international borders! I have a rose bush that was started from a cutting that was acquired outside my father’s Italian country home.
• I took a flower design night school class before my wedding so I could prepare all the bouquets myself. And so that time was on my side, I made them from silk flowers over a few months.
• My first long-distance school field-trip was to Butchart Gardens when I was eight years old, definitely felt like a walk-in paradise.
• The go-to motif of my 70’s jeans were always flowers!
• I learned the names of local wildflowers from the book “Heaven from God’s Garden.” Officially where my fascination with the flower began.

What are your flower induced memories?