Gardens. Flowers. August.
In the vegetable garden August is filled with picking, washing, cutting, and canning. Hot water in great quantities as mother performed (and directed) the preservation and storage of vegetables to tide us through the winter.
Flowers formed a joyful spot in their own garden, or on the edge of the vegetables. Their names escape me now but I do remember the year I was ready to take gladiolus to the county fair as part of my 4-H project. However, it was also the year we had a puppy — who decided the best place to roll and scratch his back was in the middle of the flower bed. (I took the dahlia. — It’s always wise to have a back-up plan.
Our neighbors grew difference flowers from our variety. They had hollyhock beside their garage. Decades later, the sight of this portion of the Missouri Botanical garden takes me back to the flowers grown by previous generations.
Do you have a flower garden? Fond memories of other gardens?