"When nothing else subsists from the past, after the people are dead, after the things are broken and scattered· the smell and taste of things remain poised a long time, like souls· bearing resiliently, on tiny and almost impalpable drops of their essence, the immense edifice of memory" -Marcel Proust "The Remembrance of Things Past"
When I was a child I spent many hours at the home of my mother's closest kin - a foster aunt - who owned (with her husband) a nursery and florist business. The nursery greenhouse was attached to the retail office, and we were allowed to wander through the greenhouse. I always loved the smell of the dirt and the flowers and I now remember that they grew a lot of snapdragons. When I started a flower garden of my own, some of the first plants I put in the ground were snapdragons. I wasn't sure what the emotional appeal was until I smelled them and all those memories came back. A few weeks ago I saw a banner on another garden blog with a picture of a daffodil and the words "I'm a daffodil. What flower are you." The "What flower are you" was a link that took me to a quiz to determine what flower I am. (See it on my sidebar.) It was a delightful surprise to discover that I'm a snapdragon - even if it is just for fun. For the origin of the common name "snapdragon" and a little more about these beautiful plants, click here.
5 comments:
Ginny, this is a sweet story about your relationship with snapdragons. I plant some every year and am never disappointed. The hummingbirds like them, too. I have an emotional connection to lilacs. Everything about them takes me back to my childhood.
The Marcel Proust quote was lovely.
donna
Enjoyed your post, Ginny.
I just did the quiz...I'm a canna. :)
It's amazing the memories - good and bad - that are triggered from flowers. Lovely pics...
My grandmother used to have a lilac bush and I planted a couple just last year because whenever I see them I have always thought of her.
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