The Love Garden

We have all seen the beautiful paper Valentines, wonderful table settings for a meal with a loved one, wonderful sparkly gifts from your special someone...but let's go out into the garden to find a token of love.
We start with the flower that some associate with love...the beautiful red rose. It has been a token of love for years. Flower shops all over the country will be making up bouquets of these beauties. Delivery trucks will be cruising all over town delivering these parcels of "love. " I think that this is the number one love flower. But wait a minute...what do I see? a little garden gem that is hiding in a shady part of the garden. The delicate bleeding heart. Can you look at a bleeding heart and not think of our Maker. Tiny little perfect heart shaped blossoms all in a perfect row just swinging in a breeze. Such perfection. They pop up in the early spring and color the woods a dainty pink. This would have be my number one choice for a favorite love flower.

My second choice would be Love Lies Bleeding. I grew it years ago and it was a show stopper. I planted the seeds in my tiny garden and was so surprised as it grew and grew four to five feet tall in height. Everyone who passed by asked what it was. It grows so easily from seed. You can start it in the house and transplant it outdoors when the weather is good. I haven't had a place for this beauty since then, but if my garden were bigger...I would find a corner for it.

How could I forget a Forget Me Knot? These tiny little blue flowers grow around my statue of St Francis. I love their little faces and the delicate blue color is so special. There aren't many true blue flowers for our gardens...this would be my number one choice for a tiny blue love flower. A bouquet of these for a wedding...perfection.

This is an old fashioned plant. Kiss Me Over the Garden Gate. Another very tall beauty. You don't see this old-fashioned plant as often as you used to, but when you do it is spectacular. Chains of delicate pink flowers hang down from tall stems that can reach 12 or more feet tall on this fast-growing annual. There are so many plants with unusual names from years ago. This would be my choice for favorite plant name that is so typical of the olden days.

We can't forget the grasses. This is called Purple Love Grass. Maybe I shouldn't have included it in my list of love flowers, but I love seeing it along the roads. Anything colorful along the road is a treat for me and my eye for anything artistic. I have painted clumps of this on many of my country scenes. It grows all over Illinois. Along roadsides and railroad tracks. It would have to be my favorite love (weed) along the road.

And now to end things up...a clinging vine. I love anything that vines and trails. Ivies are a particular favorite of mine. I have an ancient telephone pole standing alone in my woods. I have tried to get a Boston Ivy or Virginia Creeper to grow up that pole. I thought a crimson covered telephone pole would look cool in my woods in the fall. Several wild vines tried to climb the pole and I pulled them out. I had purchased three vines and planted them at the base. I did this more that once. They kept dying on me. So, one day, I just let the wild vines start to crawl. Here I had been pulling out the very vines that I had bought. They have finally started up the pole and I may get my wish. This would be my last choice for a love plant. A clinging vine named Ivy.
There are so many more that I could have listed....I tried to list some that were common and a couple that were unusual. If you don't get a paper valentine or red roses from anyone on Monday, just get out your garden books or go online and read about the stories behind these favorites of mine. Spend an afternoon looking at beautiful photos of flowers and eat a piece of chocolate and sip something that you love to sip. Have a beautiful afternoon.

Balisha