Sweet Scented Memories

My earliest memory is of lying on my tummy on the lawn with the yellow sun on my back and the cool green grass underneath me.  I was closely studying a clover blossom, entranced by the tiny varicoloured petals that subtly changed from purple to pink to soft white at their tips.

source unknown

A clover bouquet for my mother; buttercups, chicory and Queen Anne's Lace in a plastic cup on the kitchen table; my sister and I festooned with dandelion necklaces and daisy chain crowns, our fingers sticky with sap; the heavy perfume of my Granny's shrubbery with its tree swing that glided me up and back through dappled sunlight; and carefully peeling open an enchanting bleeding heart flower to find the tiny glass slippers inside - these are my childhood memories.

My dad was the gardener in our family. He had a preference for the wild -

Lady Slipper Orchid

Heather Drope - Nova Scotia Wild Flora Society nswildflora.ca

and the exotic -

Japanese Lanterns

http://www.vanmeuwen.com

 "See this, Kara?  It's a Jack-In-The-Pulpit.  Gently lift up the lid, and look - there's Jack!"

http://www.flowers-pictures.info/

He liked to take me for car rides down the country lanes, under the green canopy of ancient maple trees with the crunch of gravel beneath the car tires.  Occassionally he would stop the car and get out to gather a bouquet of wildflowers.

"Here Darling," he'd say, "you give these to your mother."