Every year my birthday falls near Mother’s Day and occasionally on Mother’s Day itself. I am not usually sent bouquets of flowers as I am not keen on the commercialization of ‘special’ days, but this year with the Covid thing and no visiting allowed I received a bouquet of pink flowers from my daughter.
The beautiful roses arrived as semi opened buds and unusually the bouquet included some white foxgloves in bloom, all of course grown under glass probably in Holland.
Naturally, after about two weeks the flowers gradually began to fade and we arrived at the cut-down stage for some, and the transfer to a different vase stage for others. This transfer trick also included adding a couple of stems of hellebores from my backyard.
Unlike the roses and carnations the hellebores from my garden completely drooped after a single day, but as many of you know these flowers can be seen so much better when cut with a very short stem and placed in a bowl of water. And, I can report one week later the floating blooms are still looking fresh and catching the light as they bob around.
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Agnes Ashe 
Ah, lovely, Agnes!
Thank you.
What a glorious set of images to feast my eyes on, I thank you and your daughter for giving me so much pleasure.
Ahh, fresh flowers are such a luxury and an indulgence at this time of year, but they do lift the spirits.
That was the gift that keeps on giving all right. They are beautiful.
Yes they are, and I think the colours might just make it onto a scarf at some point too.
I’m with you on Mothering Sunday commercialism. But like you, I was less hard-line this year, and flowers are a lovely thing to receive, whatever the excuse.
It is difficult with gifts isnāt it. Not being a gardening type (yet) my daughter had assumed from the online companyās marketing blurb that all the flowers were grown in the UK if under glass. Although I said the flowers were most likely from Holland, I suspect the roses were in fact from Kenya. Sigh.
I’ll confess to buying the occasional bunch from Aldi. One bunch of roses lasted two weeks! This current lot, yellow, are not faring as well, but I trim the stems every day and am surprised how much water they are absorbing.
Another supermarket had a promotion aimed at children. Little packets of seed and soil to raise your own flowers, herbs and vegies. I got five in the grocery bags when I did a ‘click and collect order’ and my neighbour gave me another five. I’m having a ball raising them. Takes me back to infant school and growing wheat in a petri dish. I might have already told you about this. I’m just so taken with the concept. Beats plastic toys give-aways hands down!
No, I donāt think you have mentioned that to me before, but I might have missed the comment. Packets of seeds are fabulous when youāre successful however old you are. The other year my supersized sunflowers were from a packet sold for kids too. There is also an added layer of satisfaction when you arrive at the point of saving your own homegrown seeds for next year. š Good luck.
You are fortunate Agnes. Flowers say everything when they are gifted.
Yes, they certainly do.