This vase is a treasured possession because it is from my grandparents’ 50th wedding anniversary in 1967.
But, my cherished item is the plant itself – the simple perennial phlox. This old-fashioned plant that most gardeners today wouldn’t even think of having in their garden is one of the most prized in mine because of the memories attached to it.
There is no doubt I get my love of gardening from my maternal grandmother, and the phlox was one of her favorites. It survives year after year regardless of what Mother Nature throws at it.
My grandmother was also a survivor. She grew up in rural Jay, Vermont, fought her way through the great depression as a young married woman, gave birth to five children, lost her two youngest sons in WWII, buried a third son and a grandson in their mid 30’s, and suffered through dementia before passing.
So, this cherished but simple phlox plant that I have in several colors reminds me of my grandmother – hard-working, unassuming, and beautiful.
Cherish furs, diamonds, prized art, fancy cars, expensive shoes? No, give me the blooms and the fragrance of a phlox, and I have a smile from ear to ear because of my cherished memories. 💗
Have something you cherish, join in the Blogfest.
NewEnglandGardenAndThread 
I’ve only just planted my white phlox (David) this year. Wow! He sure makes a statement in the garden. Your phlox are my iris. My paternal grandmother, whom I never met, used to breed them. When I look at the iris, it makes me think that I met her in a weird way 😊
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Love the last sentence. LOL 🙂
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Nice tribute to your grandmother. The vase is great. Old-fashioned flowers such as your lovely phlox are my favorite choices for the garden. Often they have been passed-along from someone special, making them even more valuable.
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I love phlox – it was looking particularly nice on one of the gold medal winning displays at the Tatton Park Flower Show recently, so perhaps you’re more on trend than you think!
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Well, that’s interesting to know. Thanks. 🙂
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Aww this is beautiful! Special tribute to your grandmother!
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Lovely. What a beautiful tribute to your grandmother. I’ve always had phlox in my Indiana gardens. I don’t think it grows in Georgia…Anyway, I like pink phlox 🙂
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I have light and dark pink, white, and pink and white. I had a dark purple color but haven’t seen it in a while. 🙂
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Beautiful.
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What a sweet tribute to your dear grandmother! Your memories of her live on whenever this plant blossoms, or when you handle the vase she also touched. I love the hardiness of phlox, too. They grow on the edge of our woods and are a welcome sign of new life after a hard winter.
My own grandmother’s yard was a wonderland of beauty. Lilacs, lily-of-the-valley, and pink climbing roses all remind me of her!
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Your grandmother had spring and summer covered with those beautiful plants. 🙂
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Lovely tribute.
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That is such a nice tribute to your grandmother and it’s a very beautiful flower. I think the things we have that remind us of the important people in our lives are among the most cherished objects.
Thanks for joining us this year. Dan – cohost -#CBF16
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Flowers also evoke memories of my grandmother as they do for many. And phlox…well it’s as happy as can be in my garden right now after weeks of sizzling under the “heat dome”. Sturdy stuff grandmothers and phlox. Nice to learn about yours.
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Yes, it is interesting when we get to these dog days of summer with no rain to mention, and the phlox stand tall and start blooming anyway. Yes, sturdy, is a good word. 🙂
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Phlox is a lovely looking flower and a great reminder of your grandmother. I like flowers that are hardy and survive no matter what, probably because my gardening skills aren’t all that great 🙂
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Well, there is also that positive aspect to a hardy perennial. They keep going even if we forget to tend them or they manage to survive the heat, rain, or lack of rain. 🙂
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What a sweet tribute to your grandmother 🙂 I waded into a roadside area a few years ago, early morning, picking wild phlox to use in bouquets for Scott’s wedding. I also dug up a plant and it’s blooming now. Around here the wild phlox show up in May or early June but in my garden it blooms later. Not sure why …I guess it just wants me to appreciate it more ! 🙂
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You have a family connection too. 🙂
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You know about me and phlox, so you know that I loved this image; it is beautiful on so many levels! All these comments certainly testify to the memories in a garden. I loved inmygarden’s “sturdy stuff grandmothers and phlox.” I hadn’t thought of them that way, but, yes!
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I know there are nurseries full of new Proven Winner plants out there, and I’ve been known to buy them once in a while. But the ones that I’ve known for so long that are now like old friends are the ones that really get me through the winter anticipating spring to I can greet them again. 🙂
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I so agree! The “proven winners” are those old friends. I loved jodierichelle’s comment about “meeting our loved ones in the garden.” It was with a deep sense of melancholy that I cut back my own phlox yesterday evening. I will miss them.
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Hi Judy. So, with a bunch of windows open earlier, I didn’t notice your banner image and I added my comment without realizing who I was talking to. I’m sorry if you were wondering “what’s wrong with him?” I’m trying to catch up on my regular blog reading at lunch, and when I saw the flower in my inbox, I was like “oh my, that was Judy!”
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That’s okay, Dan. I can only imagine how many posts you are trying to respond to plus put in a day’s work. 🙂 Hope the blogfest is a huge success. I’ll be trying to visit everyone tonight.
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I decided to take part of the day off. I had too many things to do. I felt bad because my first thought was to read my regular posts first. I should have stuck with that plan.
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Isn’t it so true, how our loved ones live on in our garden? I love this post!
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I’m thinking maybe that is one thing that fuels my passion for gardening having so many personal connections to individual plants. Glad it makes sense to you. 🙂
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What a great choice. Nice that it’s a memory that isn’t (necessarily) packed away, but one that can use and see on a daily basis, if you wish. And the fact that it reminds you of your beloved, hard-working grandmother makes it all the more special. Good post!
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Thanks so much for the kind words and the visit. 🙂
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Moving tribute to your beloved grandma. To say she was a survivor is an understatement. I have pink phlox in my garden. I just remove the spent blossoms and they keep on blooming. Love them!
Growing up our back yard was solid lilacs on three sides. And there was a huge patch of Lily-of-the-valley. And Silver Dollars.
My own grandma didn’t have much of a green thumb except for African Violets. Every windowsill held flower pots of them. She seemed to do everything with them that you weren’t supposed to, yet they flourished!! Kind of like her….and your own grandma!!
Thanks for sharing your memories with us. She sounds like she was a grand old gal. Your photo of the phlox in that vase would make a beautiful painting!
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So lovely, Judy! I just picked a huge bouquet of the same Phlox blossoms this morning. Mine are a treasured part of the history of my little bungalow. The were already growing here 29 years ago when I moved here. So I planned my cutting garden bed around them! I often wonder how old these gorgeous plants really are? The scent is just heavenly!! 💗
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You gave me goosebumps. 🙂 While I’m writing this, I can smell that vase of phlox over on my windowsill. Gardening – it’s a wonderful thing. 🙂
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So true! I am in the family room, but I can smell the bouquet of Phlox in the kitchen. As I read your lovely memories of your grandmother, I could smell her favorite blossoms, Judy! 💗
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When I was in grade school, friends had gardens and would bring Lilacs, Lilies-of-the valley, and Bleeding Hearts to the teacher. I always thought that must be the coolest thing to be able to pick those gorgeous flowers from their yards. I’m picturing windowsills filled with African Violets at your Grandma’s – nice visual. :-).
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I am humbled by what your beloved grandmother went through in life. I also love tall phlox. If I think of my mother, I think of the red geraniums she used to grow on a west windowsill in our small Bronx apartment.
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Thank you, and your memory of your Mom’s red geraniums makes me think of my Mother-in-law. She had my Father-in-law build her a shelf on the inside of their wooden garage door, and she wintered her red geraniums there. We would gather in that garage for large family dinners and enjoy those lovely geraniums in the middle of winter. 🙂
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Beautiful! I didn’t know phlox are perennial. I thought they were annuals. I must investigate. Perennials are great because once they’re planted the work is done but the rewards come every year.
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I love phlox and have it in my garden. I have a lot of plants that I cherish because people either loved them or they gave me slips of theirs. My garden’s a huge collection of memories for me.
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A garden like yours is like having memories of family and friends right outside your door. 🙂
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This was lovely, Judy. Phlox are such beautiful flowers and you have a perfect vase to put them in! I’ve always wished I had a particular type of rose bush because my great uncle Ross always snipped me off a bloom from his bush when I was a little girl and went to visit. Anytime I go by someone’s yard and see those familiar fuchsia blooms, I still think of him.
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Truly moving, Judy. A testament to the strength of the human heart.
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My mother has always been a keen and creative gardener. She has tended her share of phlox over the years. The maternal line must be significant. It is from there that I received my interest in poetry. May phlox flowers delight you for many years to come!
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Thank you.🌺 Applause to you on your ability to write poetry which I haven’t attempted since high school. And, there is a fundamental reason I don’t attempt it. 🙂
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A lovely tribute to your grandmother, and such a pen sketch of her life and character. She seems a bit like my mother….those wonderful generations of women who were so hard working and unassuming. I enjoyed reading your post very much..
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They were wonderful role models that is for sure. 🙂
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My grandmothers were of the same generation as yours and I think often about the lives they led–so different from our own! There’s not one picture of the wedding of one of my grandmothers because they simply couldn’t afford such an extravagance. Things like flower gardens were their extravagances, maybe. Anyway, your post is beautifully written and I think I’ll go cut some of my phlox right now.
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They were made of tough stuff weren’t they? My grandmother didn’t have a wedding photo either. 🙂
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I loved the significance of the vase! I especially love the phlox. ❤ My Mom and Dad liked the more "wild" type of flowers over roses and orchids. Phlox was always taken in buckets from one house to the next, as well as lilies of the valley and tiger lilies. They all combine into a really nice garden scene, layered and a heavenly scent wafting from them. Thanks for waking me up this Saturday with happy memories, Judy. 🙂
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Glad I could do that for you. Hope you have a wonderful weekend. 🙂
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More often than not, it seems that the things we treasure are attached to special memories. This post reinforces that truth ❤
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Phlox is a plant from my youth too. I was touched by the life story of your grandma…so much hard ship in one life. She’d reserves to be honored by her own plants!!! Xoxox Johanna
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Judy, there was something about the flowers that caught my eye straight away. Reading your post, I could tell what it was. The beauty and love they represent – the sense of cherish they hold. Gorgeous flowers with extraordinary meaning. I love it!
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That phlox is beautiful but the sentiment behind it is even more so. I am glad you have both the vase and the flowers to remember your Grandmother by.
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“It survives year after year regardless of what Mother Nature throws at it” sounds like something I should plant in my garden 🙂 Gorgeous flowers holding so much love and memories. Thanks for sharing.
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Thank you. 🙂
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A www, such a sweet post Judy. I love that the flowers remind you of your grandmother. We often forget about the hardships our ancestors suffered in their most difficult times. It seems your grandmother had more than her share. Somehow I’m thinking you gave her some joy to go with the sadness my friend!
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Yes, my grandparents did enjoy me growing up during the summer vacations on their farm. My grandfather use to say there was a hole in the house when I’d go back home to upstate New York for the school year. 🙂
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Aww, your Grandmother is from Jay?! My hubby grew up near there. Lovely part of the state ❤
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It is always fun to encounter these times when we find something like this in common. I have to admit, I’ve never been to Jay, but I’m thinking I need to put it on my list of VT stops for next time. 🙂 Have you done any genealogy projects? That’s on my list also. 🙂
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It is marvelous to have ‘heirloom’ plants. My beloved Grandfather died in 66 but one of his sisters gave me virginia bluebells and early iris a good 30 years later. They are still blooming and propagating in my garden in the dunes. They too lived through the depression and suffered loss. Sometimes I think their depression lessons stay with us.
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Well, I can only guess how happy it makes you to see those plants bloom and know they are part of your ancestry. That’s wonderful. 🙂
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