I was looking at the flowers in the front yard today and these hibiscus flowers brought back some great memories.
When I was in the 7th grade my family moved into a house that had room for a garden. Prior to that we lived in a town house and did not have a lot of room for gardening (but we had tomato plants every year). It was so much fun for me to work in that big vegetable garden…planning and planting and weeding and harvesting.
That same year my youngest sister Elizabeth was born. With 5 siblings several years older than her she was quite the grown up little girl. She always wanted to be involved in what was going on. I did a lot of baking in high-school and she always had her stool pushed up next to the counter so she could watch and help. She loved to eat rhubarb pieces while I was making pie, and she was great at putting the biscuits onto the baking tray as I cut them out.
She also loved to help in the garden. She loved vegetables because she helped to grow them, one of her favorites was “Swiss-charge” her name for Swiss chard. I would show her how the plants were growing as we weeded and harvested (she loved to eat raw beans and peas).
I showed her how the vegetables grew. Tomatoes start out as these flowers
and grow into these
green beans start out as these flowers
and grow into beans
pepper start out as these flowers
and grow into these
she had it all figured out.
One day the first bloom of the hibiscus plant opened (at 3 years old she pronounced it HI-biscuit)
and because she knew how plants work she very seriously asked me when the plant was going to get biscuits.
Hibiscus flowers and Biscuits always remind me of my sister
Happy Gardening
Tim
Thanks for the chuckle. Out of the mouths of babes… Does your sister garden now?
She is a wife and mother now (2 small children) and a new house…and her yard looks great…not much room for a big vegetable garden …but nice flowers
nice memories!
Karen
I have not grown a real vegetable garden in years…not enough room for both vegies and all my flowers….but I think I will have to make some room for “swiss charge” next year
That is great and so funny! Thank you for sharing such a wonderful family memory! Definitely brought a smile to my day.
glad it made you smile! It still makes me smile 25 years later
Reminds me of the little neighbor girl whose father owned a supper club and always sang “Jingle Bells” with “bells on cocktails ring, making spirits bright” and called a magic wand a “magic want”. Thanks for brightening my day. Do you make tomato jam with your tomatoes? Making some now, house smells great.
Karen
lol…that iust great…bells on cocktails
I have not made tomato jam but I love it…enjoy
That was great! And those vegetables look picture perfect!
true confession…the vegies are not from my garden
Wonderful stories, lovely pics too! i have a veggie garden(my Mom’s domain) and also lots of flowers(my Dad’s domain). A lot of them are things my Dad grew-he loved flowers. When I am weeding they bring back so many happy memories with my Dad. Now I garden with the grandkids and hopefully that will spark memories for them in the future. Now they are teens-it is amazing the conversations we have while working in the garden!
)
Gardens bring people together
Hi Tim, I remember when my son was little we planted a sunflower house (it had morning glories that grew up then over the sunflowers). We would work in the garden a bit then take a break in the shade of that “house” and enjoy the view from there. Thank you for sharing -because it brought to mind good memories for me, as well. Have a great week.
what a wonderful memory…I can just see that sunflower house…and the special time spent together
thanks
What a cute story. I will never look at a hibiscus the same way again!
I am still waiting for them to some day grow biscuits…wouldn’t that be fun!
Haha! Reminds me of my younger siblings and the oldies song “Secret Agent Man” — they thought it was Secret Asian Man for the longest time!
Remember the song “bad moon rising”? I thought they were saying …there’s a bathrrom on the right……when they were saying…….there’s a bad moon on the rise
We always had a vegetable garden so I was used to food coming from the garden – when I was about 6, I was puzzled about macaroni and asked my dad where it came from. He laughed and said, “The macaroni plant!” I thought he was teasing me, but maybe it was chopped up stems of plants. I didn’t figure it out for years!
funny what kids will believe….but every kid should have the experience of food from the garden…rather than the store