Flowers and Memory

Some of you may have noticed my hydrangeas in a few instagram posts and a video or two. I LOVE hydrangeas. My mom had an enormous hydrangea bush behind the house where I grew up. We called the flowers "snowballs." Because they really were the floral equivalent.  Mom's ranged from white to purple and I don't recall her doing anything to change the color.  Maybe she pruned once in a while? But she wasn't a "gardener." Things grew. Including roses of Sharon and Tiger lilies which, surprise surprise, I still love.

The first flowers I remember planting were zinnias. I think I planted them from seeds, on the shady side of the house, but they grew anyway. Dumb luck.  

One of the many wonderful things about flowers is their power to trigger amazing memories. Whether it's roses you got for Valentine's day from your first boyfriend (or girlfriend), the corsage you wore at a prom (will there ever be proms again?), or the sweet peas spilling down a bridal bouquet, the sensory nature of flowers can bring you back in time. And SENSORY is the right word. Scent is so primal, yet so hard to describe.

And perhaps that is the most special power of flowers - you really have to experience them in REAL TIME and in REAL SPACE. I can teach you to arrange flowers online, but nothing replaces the textures you feel in your hand, the amazing aroma that emanates from flowers in your room.

(This is when I get to remind you that the reason flowers lower your blood pressure is that when your "lizard brain" sees flowers, it knows that fruit is on the way. So it can stop looking for food.)

When I start class, I always ask everyone about their "relationship" to flowers, Inevitably there is a story about a mother or grandmother or some other important family member or friend who they connect to through flowers.

So like Proust's Madeleine, sniff around and delight in your sweet memories. During this seemingly endless, upside down time, when everything is running together, it is so important to remember.