Tomorrow is Mother’s Day, a special holiday to celebrate the very special ladies in our life that have earned the honor of the mother title. Whether it is your birth mother, grandmother, wife, daughter, daughter in law or another important lady in your life that has helped “mother” you over the years, flowers and plants are often part of the celebration and memories. It seems appropriate that Mother’s Day falls on our calendar in early spring when plants and new life are leafing out and blooming all around us. I suspect this timing and the love, affection and respect we have for our mothers helped lead to the popularity of the term Mother Nature to designate the wonders of the natural or biological world around us.
Many mothers love and appreciate fresh flowers as part of the holiday celebration whether it is a beautiful spring bouquet, a vase of their favorite flower or the traditional stunning rose flowers in their favorite color. It can be as simple and special as a bouquet of wild flowers or special flowers from your own yard, the yard where they grew up or another special place. This is often how kiddos first begin to honor their all important mothers.
Many folks give an actual rose bush in addition or to cut roses so that plant becomes a living memory of Mother’s Day and you can cut and enjoy roses from that bush for years to come. If your mom loves crape myrtle, lilacs, azaleas, a special tree, shrub or some other kind of plant consider giving that to her as a living gift that will build on the memories of this year. Think how many of your memories of grandma or great grandmother revolve around their trademark plants whether it was iris, daylilies, dahlias, grapes, blackberries or some other plant and start building your own memories and traditions as you honor the important mothers in your life.
My mom recently fell and broke her pelvis and is in a rehab center for another week, so we will take her some beautiful cut roses off the gorgeous rose bushes in her yard that she is missing right now and will try to help keep up on her watering and weeding until she gets home. Mom’s always appreciate help making new flowerbeds, planting new container gardens and help trimming trees and shrubs and other garden and landscape projects.
After the recent rains, most all of our trees, shrubs, vegetables and flowers are lush, vibrant green and producing lots of new growth. Nighttime temperatures are now warm enough where you can plant even the “warm blooded” crops like caladium, vinca or periwinkle, sweet potatoes and okra. It is pretty much prime season to plant just about anything that is container grown where the roots are well established in soil. Take advantage of the nice spring weather and longer days to add more trees and shrubs to your landscape. If you haven’t already planted your vegetable garden now is still a great time to plant tomatoes, sweet and hot peppers, eggplant, melons, summer squash and many types of herbs. There are literally hundreds of great choices in annual flowering plants to plant now to add color to your yard through the full growing season. Add perennial flowers for seasonal color and to be a key building block in your gardens that will come back year after year.
Happy Mother’s Day to my mom and thank you to all the other wonderful mothers that shape our families, our communities and our country every single day. Nothing would be possible without the love and blessings of all you sweet and caring Mothers.
Rodd's Seeds of Wisdom 