Flowers

My interest in flowers did not start when I was a child. Although my mom had indoor plants and some flowers growing outside, it didn’t seem to influence me much. I do remember beautiful window boxes filled with flowers outside the large picture window in front of our house– pretty to look at from the inside as well as the outside. I must have been influenced by that. I have had flower boxes on my decks for 40+ years.

I plant petunias in my flower boxes…this deck gets full afternoon sun and petunias can take the heat! And they are colorful.

I remember my mother’s purple clematis (probably a wonderful, old-fashion Jackmanli) on the side of our house on McKinley Street, along with some other flowers.

This Jackmanli clematis grows along the side of our house in Northfield.

There may have been a small garden plot in the back corner of my parent’s yard, but I don’t remember the kinds of flowers growing there. I did not have to weed flowers, but I did have to weed around the Poplar trees that lined our back yard. 

A different clematis climbing the arbor…the lilac bush is behind the hanging blue, glass ball…

My mother did plant a lilac bush and I took a small section from her bush and planted it at our house in Burnsville. When we moved from Burnsville, I took a section from that bush and planted it in our yard here in Northfield. It’s still growing and blooming after 27+ years.

Looking off our deck into our back yard. The lilac bush is near the wagon wheel by the shed.
Such lush green…so amazing to look at right now while outside snow is falling and the ground is white!

I do remember, as a child, picking some tulips from a neighbor’s garden to bring home to my mom…then I had to turn right around and go apologize to Dorothy for not asking permission to cut some of her flowers. Whoops.

Star-gazer Lily, Coral Bells, Rudbeckia

Recently a prompt from a writing session led me to thinking about when my interest in flowers began. I remembered giving a friend an eight-pack of starter begonias as a housewarming gift. I have no idea why I picked begonias or how they would grow …but when I went back to her house later that summer there was pot on her front porch, blooming with beautiful begonias…the ones I had given her earlier that spring. I had no idea they would grow and fill out so much! This was back in high school. I’ve learned a lot since then. 

Cone flowers in front of Quick Fire hydrangea.
My Quick Fire Hydrangea, later in the season. When this hydrangea begins blooming it has white flowers (see photo with purple cone flowers above) and changes to mauve by the end of the season.

My interest and knowledge grew when we moved into a new house with a vacant yard, almost twenty-eight years ago. As I mentioned, I have always had flower boxes to fill with colorful annuals, so we included that into our deck plans, but I created a few flower gardens, too, and have been playing in the dirt ever since. 

I call these corn lillies.

And now I love flowers…tending to them, admiring them in gardens all over the world, and taking pictures of them… 

My favorite…Stargazer Lilies

(These photos were taken in my yard at different times and years.)

10 thoughts on “Flowers”

  1. You have created a beautiful serene backyard. I especially appreciate it now with all the snow outside.

  2. What a lovely gift to us this morning, in this winter landscape. Valerie, your flowers are beautiful to behold. So happy you discovered flowers and are then sharing your love of them with all of us.

    1. I’m glad you enjoyed seeing some flowers today…
      I surprised myself when I thought back to when I started to enjoy flowers…

  3. What a beautiful yard you’ve created Valerie!! And what a delight for all of us to see blooming flowers during this cold weather!! What a gift!! Thank you for sharing!

  4. What beautiful examples of your flowers. I’ve always admired
    your flower gardens and it helped inspire me to do more planting. I really enjoy the variety and colors of your beautiful pictures here.
    Thanks for reminding us that another planting season will hopefully be here before we know it.

    1. Thanks Shirley. You too have beautiful flowers.
      Another growing season can’t come soon enough…
      😉

  5. Wow, Valerie, your yard is truly gorgeous! What a wonder, to be surrounded by so much natural beauty! Nature is truly the most amazing artist!

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