Do you ever wonder why you love certain flowers? I’ve been thinking about this when
considering why I always grow particular flowers again and again.
I think for me it is about remembering sights and smells from childhood. My dad was in the RAF so we moved a lot – and I don’t think we lived anywhere with a garden for long until I was a teenager. And yet the few gardens we did have left me with strong memories of certain flowers which I still love today.
Marigolds for instance. I love the smell as you dead-head them or touch their leaves and their bright orange or yellow flowers.
Roses, almost goes without saying, don’t we all love them? The really old fashioned, blowsy, dark red roses with that strong and beautiful scent are the ones I remember best. Geraniums in lovely bright colours, again with their distinctive smell.
Nasturtiums spreading all over with those fantastic pale green leaves and electric orange
flowers.
And the sights – neat white rows of alyssum, beds full of brightly coloured snap-dragons, big white daisies.
Now I have belatedly developed a love of gardening, I’ve got all those flowers I remember on display in our garden and I think I always will! I’ve added lots more new loves (the smells are
obviously important to me, stocks and sweet peas are new favourites) but those first flower
memories are still a must for my garden.
allotmentinmygarden 
A lovely post, and wonderful photos, which has reminded me of some happy, if now somewhat faded, memories. My mum was a passionate gardener and I spent many hours helping her when I was a youngster. I find that I like, and grow, some of the flowers that were her favourites. I’d grow lots more if I had a garden and not just a small half plot allotment. xx
Thank you 🙂 I have a lot of my flowers in pots on the patio. Funny how you keep those childhood favourites as you grow up..