My Mamma's Flowers

My own love for flowers and growing things was nurtured alongside my Mamma’s flowers and vegetables.  She has a knack for growing things.  And she learned from her mamma.  My Grandma is a tried and true gardener, and I know if I ask her a gardening question, her answer will come from years of experience. “You start broccoli seed by Valentine’s day.” says my Grandma.  I can remember that kind of gardening information.  The Early Girl tomato plant with the green tomatoes already hanging in the back garden came from my grandma’s early planting this year.

  This farm where I live now has beautiful perennial gardens with multitudes of flowers, shrubs, and flowering trees, and I love to soak up their beauty.  They aren’t extremely formal gardens, but there is definitely a bit of that feel.   Boxwood and Ivy, white Oakleaf Hydrangeas and Azaleas.  I think this is what I love in a garden.

  But then I go “home”, back to the place I was raised, on the side of a small mountain covered in trees making shade over the rocks and boulders tumbling down the slope.  This is where my Mamma’s flowers grow.  The rocks she’s gathered to hold back the earth simply fit into the pattern that makes a beautiful space for flowers.   There is a little stream with spots where birds bathe and two pools where the frogs croak and fish swim with the water plants.

  When I see this informal natural beauty with the wild and the cultivated living together it feels right.  It’s welcoming.  Not showy, not impressive or magnificent, but it is good. 

This old wheelbarrow was found in the riverbed after a flood.

Mayapples growing in the shadier spots.

Peas, Lettuce, and Corn all thriving together.

This rose that grows by the vegetable garden, has the most wonderful scent.
 It was started from a cutting from my Grandma.

Lilies growning in the vegetable garden.

Reba the mule isn't growing in the garden.  But I couldn't resist adding her picture!  This was the first time we got to meet her, and she's pretty cool! =)

Kadence loved her, and Reba loved Kadence!

He has showed you, O man, what is good.

And what does the Lord require of you?

To act justly and to love mercy

and to walk humbly with your God.

Micah 6:8