Springtime in Alabama

I love this time of year, and as I watch the spring flowers "show off" I can't help but to reflect on how much my folks loved flowers. Mother was in one of the first classes taught in our area for Master Gardner and my dad dearly loved winter pansies. Each year we plant pansies in honor of my dad in the flower beds and in hanging baskets.


Almost three years ago now we transplanted day lilies, irises, azaleas, camelias, and mondo grass at our house that originated from the garden my folks raised. We put Mother in the golf cart and she gave very specific instructions as to how each plant should be planted. Comments from my, at the time, 95 year old mother ranged from "don't plant it too deep" to "save the dirt!" Mother would share her plants with anybody that asked, but heaven help the person that dug up too much dirt with her plants.


The flowering plum tree came with the house and is blooming early this year due to the unseasonably warm weather we had in February. It was never a favorite of Mothers as she thought it was pretty useless since the fruit is not edible.


Andy rooted these rose bushes using clipping from Mother's yard, and we moved them from our first house here in Alabama to our retirement house. I get a real kick out of seeing our children take clipping from bushes to start another plant.

Everytime I pass by the blackberry and blueberry bushes I am reminded of some special little boys that had a good time picking berries last summer. Looking forward to a do-over already.

I will never forget a comment the Queen made one day while we were transplanting some flowers here at the house. We had finished for the day and she looked at what we had done and said "looks like this yard has some Margarent in it now!" While I will never be the gardner that the Queen was I do love the idea that our yard brings us fonds memories of two very special people.