Rosemary for Remembrance

Wednesday Evening was our annual service of Thanksgiving, Remembrance and Hope, when we take time to recall those who are no longer with us and all they meant to us.  This year we invited folks to submit any names they would like read out, and our daughter requested that the names of her maternal grandparents - or her ancestors as she calls them - were included.

Folks attending the service are invited to bring either a flower or a small bunch. My parents never bought cut flowers and rarely had them in the house. The exception being Sweet Peas which you have to cut every day or so, to keep them flowering and discourage them from going to seed. By and large, they preferred flowers in their natural setting, i.e., the garden. When I was doing my Duke of Edinburgh award, one of the elements was flower arranging, and we were taught a few simple styles of arrangements.  I quite enjoyed playing with flowers and oasis. However, my parents were never huge fans of my efforts, as they were of the opinion that the flowers would last better in a vase of water, or better still, left in the garden! With this in mind, I did not buy a bunch of flowers for my daughter to present at the service. I went out into the garden with a pair of secateurs and snipped some vegetation.  I had no cellophane wrap for my haphazard bouquet, so a sandwich bag and kitchen roll sufficed - my 'make-do-and-mend' mother would have approved.  The bouquet contained the following:-

• Lobelia - one of my favourite flowers - a few still linger in the front garden
• Marigolds - I remember a similar variety of these old-fashioned orange flowers in the garden when I was a child.
• Wallflowers - yellow & purple varieties. My parents loved these as they flowered during the winter months when there is little colour in the garden. 
• Osteospemum - I do not know if my parents ever grew these, but it is the sort of plant they would appreciate
• Coreopsis - this is the sort of plant Mum would grow from seed, and deadhead regularly to extend its season.
• Verbena - deep red and purple varieties.  Mum definitely grew verbena, but usually annuals to brighten the borders.
• Euonymus - for some variegated greenery.  
• Lavender - we had an old lavender bush by the old coal shed in our garden. Periodically it would get severely pruned, but it always recovered. Mum would cut and dry the seed heads in the airing cupboard and make lavender bags for Christmas Sales.  
• Rosemary, for remembrance, just because I could.