Plants That Trigger Fond Memories

16 years ago

After responding to the thread by the poster who had grown a new lemon tree from a seed I was transported. I had replied with my very happy memories of a beloved grandfather and his (im)famous orange tree (the one he was so proud of but prolifically produced nothing but very sour oranges), I spent the rest of the day laughing to myself and enjoying wonderful memories of my grandfather.

The famous sour oranges that only he dare ate (out of determined pride...and only when we were watching - grandma would betray) while all us kids would laugh and laugh. Happy days of climbing that tree at my granparents house. The smell of the thousands of orange blossoms on a warm spring L.A. night through the window in sheets that grandma always dried out on the line specially for us because we loved the smell. Grandpa substituting his croquet ball with a big sour orange.

Anyway, today was such a pleasant day because of the wonderful memories that I thought I would start a thread asking others what plant did the same to trigger happy memories in their life.

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Comments (5)

youreit
16 years ago
Such a nice story! Thanks so much for sharing.

Unfortunately, I only have memories of house plants (God love mom for tryin', though...LOL), mainly things like jade plant and pothos and Venus flytrap...AND some rhubarb plants that were growing at the home we moved to in Idaho. Mom's rhubarb pies were THE best on the planet.

I had a brief period in my teenage years when I was bound and determined to grow some things from seed after we moved back here to Cali. I was pretty successful with some easy stuff - Cosmos, marigolds, Zinnias - but no one seemed to appreciate my meager efforts. LOL

The memories I'm making with my mom now that we're both gardening addicts mean the most to me. :)

Brenda
lesdvs9
16 years ago
A fig tree my grandpa grew and the lemon tree and roses my grandma grew in their back yard in Long Beach are my fond memories of watching them tend. I put a lot of squeezed lemons on my hair to bleach it out and drank a lot of lemonade as a teen in the summers. My Mom loved eating the figs, I never developed a taste for them, I hate the look and taste of them and the seeds. I do grow roses however because of my grandma and I talk to her whenever I tend to them and feel her near:)

They've been gone for 20 years now and time doesn't stand still, the house my grandpa built doesn't look like it did and all the plants, bushes and trees are gone to someone elses dream. But, it's all still there in my photos and memories.

Nice thread.
Leslie
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SusanC
16 years ago
I spent my early childhood in Orange, Texas, right smack-dab on the Texas Louisiana border. Our street trees were Southern Magnolias, Magnolia grandiflora. What glorious trees they were! They were huge, and when in bloom, their wonderful lemony scent would perfume the air.

I thought the seedpods were astonishingly beautiful, and when I was five, my best friend and I went around the neighborhood knocking on doors and selling them to folks. -I think we charged a nickel. (When our mothers found out, they made us give the money back.)

Anyway, whenever I see a Southern Magnolia trying its best here in California, I am transported back to that simpler time and place.

Here is a link that might be useful: Magnolia seed pods are magnificent!
hosenemesis
16 years ago
Ah, yes, grandpa. In 1989 I moved into the house that grandpa built. It was quite a dump, with nothing but overgrown oleanders and head-high weeds. Straight out of graduate school, with no money, I scraped together my nickles for a walnut tree for the front yard, to replace grandpa's tree, which had died. When I was small, we used to sit under the tree at the redwood picnic bench and clean enough walnuts to pay the property taxes every year!
The new tree is not nearly as much of an economic asset, but the walnut husk flies and the squirrels appreciate it. It is my favorite tree, and the scent is of late summers and grandpa.
Second favorite: the descendants of grandpa's old-fashioned purple German irises. When I first moved in, I found rhizomes under one of the oleanders, still alive after over 20 years of neglect! They now grace my back garden, and I cut them every year to fill the house with grandpa perfume.
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calpat
16 years ago
A hedge of Mystery Gardenias, purchased at Kress' for 25 cents each. My Dad had seen them and their flowers had such a sweet scent he thought they would be a lovely addition. And so they were! They were still going strong when I married some 15 years after planting and blooming huge blossoms. Dad provided one neighborhood florists blooms every year for graduations & wedding, free of cf charge.

Plants That Trigger Fond Memories

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youreit

lesdvs9

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hosenemesis

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