Heirloom Flowers

My Auntie Theresa had a post this week of the plants in her yard. I enjoyed it so much, so I decided to copy her and take y'all on a little tour of mine. These are all flowers and plants that have been given to me by people in my family or that I've grown up with. Most of them were given to me by my MaMa Kimball. She had the greenest thumb of any woman I've ever known. She lived on a farm, so it was hard for her to keep her flowers, with all the farm equipment and critters, but she did and they were her pride and joy. She especially loved her lilies, verbena and petunias that just grew wild everywhere on the farm. Even in a cow pasture. As a little girl, I especially loved the verbena. It's still a favorite of mine, but they don't grow it like she did. I'd get clippings of it from her, but I could never get it to grow. It just liked that good, rich farm soil I guess. I miss her soooooo much. She was every woman's woman. She could cook. She could garden. She could sew. She would get her hair done every Saturday and look so pretty on Sunday morning, but she could use what she called a "grubbing hoe" better than any man ever could. And best of all, she NEVER said an unkind word about anyone and was humble as the day is long. My mom's a lot like her.
These little dolls are from her. They are called oxalis. The leaves look like clover and they have the cutest pink flowers that bloom from spring all through the summer. They don't like the really hot afternoon Georgia sun though. They get a little weepy sometimes.
This is one of my few remaining lamb's ear that I got from her too. I had dozens and dozens of them. The varmints around here have eaten the rest of them. I've got tons of seed and have been tossing them about hoping they'll come up. Just keeping my fingers crossed on that one. They have a very pretty silvery, furry green leaf with a hot pink flower. They get pretty tall. MaMa really liked these too. She had lots of them. The birds, I think, must get the seed and drop them because they grow in the strangest places.
These are called obedient flowers. They're obedient because they keep their shape so well and are great to use in cut flower arrangements. They have white flowers and honey, they multiply like rabbits. I got these from my Aunt Libby who lives in South Georgia.
This is one of my very favorite flowers. It's a hydrangea bush. Some years the blooms are blue. Others they are pink. Sadly, one year the frost got the blooms and they were no color at all. This bush came from my daddy's Aunt Louise, who passed away several years ago. It was very, very small when she gave it to me. Actually, it wasn't much bigger than a twig. That's something my MaMa Kimball taught me was how to take a clipping from another plant and make it grow. Even if it doesn't have any roots.
This is a very delicate rose bush that I got a little stick of from MaMa. You won't even believe how old the original bush is. My grandparents got this bush as a wedding gift. The bush this one came from is 70 years old! It's still in their front yard at their old homeplace. I'm so happy and thankful I got a piece of it and that it's alive and blooming. It's actually got hundreds of blooms and will bloom more than once a year.
These are yellow cana lilys. They came from MaMa, too. They also multiply like crazy. They are just beginning to come up, and will show their color in the summer. Unfortunately, the Japanese beetles like to eat them, which totally tick me off!
This is an oak leaf hydrangea bush given to me by the a sweet lady I grew up living next door to,
Ms. Roberts. She's 98 years old. She still lives next door to my mom and dad. My mom and dad check in on her a lot and my dad takes care of the maintenance and stuff around her house. He's real sweet and does that kind of thing for elderly people. These have white flowers and also look gorgeous in a cut flower arrangement.
This is a picture of some ivy that my mom gave me after I had a little surgery a few years ago. It was one little pot of ivy. I set it out underneath the swing because a very special bed and breakfast Jeff and I go for my birthday in the North Georgia mountains has a swing that is surrounded with ivy. I thought I'd give it a try with ours and I'm sure glad I did. Evidently, ivy likes swings.
Another sweet treat from MaMa. In fact, this one's called "sweet shrub". It smells fruity, sorta like Juicy Fruit chewing gum. Once the smelly blooms are gone it's just a green shrub. I would like to move it. I don't really like where it is at my back deck. It needs to be in a more open spot. Besides underneath my deck isn't a good backdrop for anything!
What's left of my hostas. Jeff's mom gave me these. She gave me a big clump and I separated them. Of course, they also multiply. But. . . last year, Jeff put this net up around his garden to keep the deer out. It worked great. They stayed out of the garden and ate almost all of my hostas. I need to separate this clump and a couple of others and start over. I know the deer will be back again soon though.
This is a vintage rose bush that came from MaMa Kimball's. She actually got it from PaPa's mother, so it came from a clipping that she got from my great-grandmother. It's not a very well groomed rose bush, but that's okay. I still love it. I notice that an acorn has taken root and a small tree is trying to grow up through it. I'm gonna have to get my "grubbing hoe" out there and dig that up.
This is one that is really special to me. It came from MaMa and PaPa Howell's house. It's a tiny camellia. As tiny as it is now, you wouldn't believe how small it was when I got it. The reason it is so special to me is because when my daddy was in high school he planted the camellia bush that this clipping came from. Even though my grandparents are gone now, that camellia bush is still big and strong at their old homeplace. Daddy got me this clipping and said I should keep it in a pot until it was big enough to make it on its own. I think I'm going to keep it in the pot a couple of more years. It's right outside my front door. I see it every day.

Azaleas from MaMa Kimball. So pretty when they bloom. I wish they'd bloom longer. Pink, green and brown are my favorite colors, so naturally, I love that shrub.

Well, that's it for my heirloom flowers. I've always told Jeff that we could never move from this house because of my flowers. My heart would break to leave them. I'm excited because Friday I'm going to be getting some clippings from my Auntie Theresa's yard! I think it's really true that some of the best things in life are FREE.

Till tomorrow, hope you're blooming where you're planted.