By Laurie Marshall of See Laurie Write
When my grandmother died, my mother bought her house and continued to care for the small cottage garden that had become grandma’s showplace. Around the hand-built rock fountain my grandfather built when I was a toddler, she planted lamb’s ears, azaleas, blue bells, daffodils, and several varieties of iris. All the garden goodness was watched over by a small statue of St. Francis of Assisi.
When my mother died in 2009, the task of cleaning out the house fell to my sister and me. It was difficult to part with the furniture and mementos that mom left behind, but because of the genuine love of the digging in the dirt that seems to be a genetic trait in my family, it was perhaps even harder to give up the years of passionate work that built that garden. One of the final things I did before I left the house for the last time was to fill a few tote bags with iris tubers. And St. Frank. Call me greedy. Or grieving.
Grandma’s irises have been in the ground in my front yard for several years now, and this year they have apparently reached their adolescence or something, because they are fantastic! There are several purple and lilac varieties, and a pink and gold one that is truly special.
The garden that was already in place in our back yard when we bought our house has provided white, yellow, pink and peach iris as well. It’s been a lovely spring for hand-picked bouquets. I know this fall will be a perfect time to cut a few pieces off to share with friends, so before they stopped blooming, I wanted to mark them.
I’ve been collecting mismatched pieces of old silver plate, knowing that I’d find a use for them “someday”. I am drawn to the tarnished and the rusty, you see. To create some plant markers, I dug out a box of old canning lids from my stash, and wrote the flower colors on them before wedging them between the tines of the forks.
I tend to decorate my garden with found and repurposed objects, so these markers fit right in. And they remind me of the thrifty“wear it out” sensibilities of my mother and grandmother. A fitting tribute, don’t you think?
Laurie is a writer and junque-hunter living in Springdale, Arkansas with her husband, son and three goofy cats. She raises kids and chickens and makes messes in her craft room. She loves to create good food, pretty gardens, and happy kids. But when that doesn’t happen as planned, she simply reads about them on Pinterest. You can follow Laurie at See Laurie Write.
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