Wednesday, January 31, 2007

Mother's Garden Scrapbook

Wintry days are good days to think about spring. The seed catalogs are arriving in the mail, and I've scanned through some of them, but not seriously yet. I know, I need to make up my mind about what to plant soon or the good seeds will be out of stock, but for best inspiration, I found my mother's garden scrapbook and have it set on the dining room table for perusal. Mother's Garden Scrapbook contains poetry, verse, and pictures of mom's garden and the gardens of her grandmother, mother, sister, and daughters. I suppose it's a heritage that has been passed down through the family --- a love of gardens, flowers, and spring. And what a wonderful heritage it is!

The verse by mother reads:

"Let's stroll the way of remembering
Let's open the garden gate
And take the path to the garden
Where the happy thoughts won't wait.

We'll visit some old time gardens. . .
And relive their history,
There's Grandma's. . .and Momma's too
And more. . .in this family."

Great-grandmother Edna lived on the Alberta prairie, but always found time for flowers amongst her farming chores.


Grandma Helen nurtured a love of gardening in all four of her children. Her sons are known for their magnificent vegetable gardens, berries, and specialty flowers. And her daughters. . .for English-style flower beds and a wonderful knowledge of plants and flowers. Both girls loved to draw, paint, and write about their gardens as well, sometimes having their work published in magazines like "Creation Illustrated".


Mother started winning gardening awards at a young age. Pictures of her with gardening trophies grace several pages of her album. Evidently gardening was a great part of her teen years in British Columbia.


As a child, I remember going to the annual Iris Society Show in our local community. Mother would enter cuttings of her iris blossoms and frequently entered floral arrangement contests as well. She was known for all types of floral design. . .but was especially fond of the Japanese style of arrangement.


Mother's enthusiasm for flowers was expressed 'always' during our childhood years; of my little sis and me. Here we are in little spring dresses she stitched, holding nosegays from her garden beds.

8 comments:

  1. That is so beautiful. I have never been inspired by scrapbooking of gardening journals before now. Your mother's book is truly lovely. Thanks for posting it.

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  2. What a beautiful heritage! That is a family treasure.

    I actually shed tears over my mom today. A song came on the radio that reminded me of her, the title being one of her "mamaw-isms". :)

    I find I miss her more now than when she first passed away.

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  3. Anonymous9:14 PM

    Thank you for sharing a bit of your mothers garden journal. That is certainly something to treasure. What a lovely family you have. Take care.

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  4. Anonymous10:52 AM

    HI! I really enjoyed this, what a treasure to have!! I have a box of things to put into a garden journal...someday I'll get it together(at least I have the box!) I hope you post more pages! THanks for sharing, Celeste

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  5. Anonymous3:46 PM

    How wonderful! What a trearsure to have and to share. My family has never done anything like that; we're more talkers than writers. Maybe I'll be the one to start!
    Kimberly
    http://www.kimberlys-cup.blogspot.com/

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  6. Anonymous4:51 PM

    Your mother's garden journal is a precious, precious treasure. Thank you so much for sharing this with us. It was so beautiful to see.
    xo,
    Kim

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  7. What a wonderful heirloom! Your Mom did an awesome job on that scrapbook! I just can't get over what a treasure that is. Most of us have pictures in a box handed down to us with no explanation as to what they are. My favorite type of scrapbooking is heirloom photos/heritage, so this post is my favorite! :o) I'm also an avid flower photographer. Some of my ancestors and relatives were on the prairies in Alberta and Saskatchewan too.

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  8. Anonymous8:12 AM

    What a wonderful and beautiful scrapbook, what a great way to share one's love of gardening.

    Janet ILR

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