Grandma’s Flower Power

Do you have a memory so intense that it feels like it was just yesterday?

We are all the sum parts of what influenced us as children, and I am no different.

Before I was ever tasked to weed a garden, I remember being amazed every summer when my grandmother’s peonies took bloom?  For us it was incredible. The peonies were on the sunny side of her house (of course, peonies need full sun), so it was not surprising that they flourished. They were between the house and the sidewalk. They would fully bloom around Mother’s Day and overflowed the sidewalk. With all the excitement that a 7-year-old could muster, we would go out with scissors and carefully cut the blooms. Our intent was to proudly present to our mom on Mother’s Day.

Ah, a child’s innocents. Ooops, when we brought them into the house, we realized that they were filled with ants!  Grandma was not happy having ants on her kitchen table.

(Science content here) Did you know that peony flowers provide food for ants and in turn, the ants protect the blossoms from other insects. Ah, nature at its finest. This is called mutualism in which two organisms of different species benefit from the activity of one another. Feel free to forget this science moment unless you plan on bringing peonies into the house and don’t like ants.

It is amazing what you savor as a child. I will never forget grandma’s peonies.  They were so beautiful. An enhancement of this memory is that my father also grew peonies in his garden. Not to the extent of grandma, but just as stunning. Most of his garden was taken up with veggies and especially tomatoes. He loved growing tomatoes and we all loved eating his fresh tomatoes. So, I can forgive him for not having an extensive peony garden.

When dad passed away and mom sold their house, I secretly took a shovel and dug up his peony roots and transplanted them to my farm garden in the south. An 11-hour drive and a very different climate from the upper mid-west gave me the challenge of endurance of this precious prize. They survived, barely, the first few years.  I wasn’t going give up easily since I had a vision to create a dad’s memory garden. Finally, I was able to create the right balance of fertilizer and with the help of these smart plants, figured out that living in the south is not a bad thing and for the last 3 years I’ve had some beautiful blooms from dad’s plants. This made me extremely happy. Besides tomatoes, dad really loved his peonies.

And I really love dad’s peonies. This year I have decided to buy from a nursery, some peony roots of plants that look like what I knew when I was a child at grandma’s house. I will add them in the garden to watch them flourish. Even though I couldn’t save any of grandma’s peonies, I now have their surrogates and the circle of life continues.

So, why am I sharing this with you? I now have grandchildren, and around every Mother's Day, I excitedly bring them to dad's memory garden and show them the beautiful peonies that were part of my extraordinary memories. They will pull out the scissors and happily cut and present them to their mom on Mother's Day…keeping them outside of my house until the ants go home. I can be taught.

Let’s continue to think of ways to make memories.