Certain flowers hold memories for me back to childhood. When we lived on California street our backyard had poinsettia plants that my dad would nurture and have beautiful red blooms on outside in the garden. These were not indoor plants for us. I don't remember seeing these outdoors again, until my husband was stationed at the LA airforce base- yes, there really is an air force base there- and the base housing was in San Pedro. There were several homes in San Pedro that had these beautiful flowers outside. To this day poinsettia's remind me of San Pedro and childhood. Dad had these Nicotina flowers that would open and close up with the daylight, and lots of daffodils. I know my dad had other flowers but these are always make me think of that house.
Later on in my childhood we moved to a larger house but it had been a farmhouse at one time. The house was lined on one side with Camelia's. All different kinds, striped, solids, bright and pastels. When i was in elementary school, we used to participate in the Camelia parade in Temple City. I remember once marching with my best friend doing baton twirling. And another time our Camp Fire group marched in it. It was a small community parade, but always when i see camelias, my home and these memories come back to me.
The home came with a rose garden that had some silver tea roses in it, that were this peculiar lavender color, i loved to go out and prune the roses. When i married i chose to have bright peachy pink roses for my bouqet and head piece. This was not traditional at the time- face it 29 years ago people were mostly into white bouqets.
No home is complete in southern California without Bouganvilla. The papery flowers that were in pink, orange or lavendar colors. These grew across the corner of our kitchen and breakfast room. Our patio was covered with Wistieria, which when in bloom has the most beautiful flowers that hang down. The wisteria grew over a metal frame and during the hot summer days was the perfect shade. I still love the drapiness of the wisteria.
My grandmother had a gardenia plant outside. It was and still is one of my favorite flowers. I love the scent of it. I'm always so sad that it browns so quickly when cut off the plant.
Although Lily of Valley is the plant of my birth month, its the plant i always associate with dear friend who passed away from breast cancer. She planted a few in her front yard and they went crazy filling out this area in a year or two. I was always surprised by how prolific they were.
Although Eucalyptus isn't a flower its smell is one of the most memorable to me. Our town had a beautiful and actually rather famous arboretum. We went there often as kids, for a family outing. It had many magnificent plants, but i always remember the smell of the eucalyptus. The leaves would get crushed underfoot and that smell would just be effervescent. My high school had these trees all over campus as well. Still one of my favorite smells, its a little bit holiday, a little bit of home, and a little bit of school all bundled up together. I'm sitting here smelling the eucalyptus wreath i bought for our home. I usually get some kind of evergreen pinetree type. But when i ran accross these at Trader Joe's I just had to have one.
There are so many scents in our lives, that stimulate the senses and memories. These are just a few mine.
Wishing you some fond memories and scents as well.
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