What’s My Favorite Flower?
Lemon Chiffon Peony
When I tell someone I’m a flower farmer, there is often a pause, followed quickly by the inevitable question, “What’s your favorite flower?” That’s a hard question to answer. My flip answer, “the one that outcompetes the weeds.” But my real answer, “it depends.”
It depends mostly on the season. This time of year my favorite flower is peony, of which I don’t have any harvestable plants right now because my stock is too young. (Check back in a year!!) In July my answer might be hydrangea or sunflowers and in September it will definitely be dahlias.
Male bluebird guarding his box
Actually, my true answer is that I love a flower with a story. I’ve always been a sucker for stories. I was an English major after all. When I’m working in the field, stories often keep me going. I listen to stories on Audible, or I make up stories about the monarchs who arrive after a long journey, or the deer who frolic just outside my large deer fence, or the tree swallows and bluebirds who squabble over prime nesting box territory. Flower stories, actual stories that I read or hear, are some of my favorites.
Sunflowers
I like universal stories like the Greek myth of Clytie and Apollo. Clytie was a water nymph who became obsessed with Apollo. The story goes that she watched him as he flew across the sky and since her love was never requited, she eventually turned into a sunflower, explaining why sunflower faces follow the path of the sun.
I also like more personal stories. A friend of mine recounted a tale about a bouquet of lily of the valley. She left a bouquet at the bedside of her sick mother shortly before she died. It had been a favorite flower for both of them. She never learned whether her mom realized that the flowers were there, but one day, shortly after her mother died, a woman with whom she crossed paths in the elevator, a woman she did not know and had never met, handed her a bouquet of lily of the valley, and my friend felt certain it was a message from her mother.
Bearded Iris
At this particular moment my favorite flower is this bearded iris. It arrived in my garden just last week. It was given to me as a root divided from the garden of a friend of mine who is a contractor and was doing work on my farm last spring. Last week was the first time I saw its color. It popped on the scene during a chilly, grey week, and I was mesmerized by its color and form, like a fancy ball gown with a tight bodice and a flowing skirt. Its magenta, mauve, and yellow is a striking contrast to the vibrant green that is the predominant color in the garden right now. I texted my friend to show him the display, and he told me he had dug these irises from his grandmother’s garden 40 years ago—a living, blooming testament to his memory of her, more than four decades later.
I love that flowers with their scent, form, and color connect us to our memories of the past, while still providing hope for the future. So far, no matter what the weather calamity, there are still new flowers about to bloom.
I love flower stories. If you have any favorites, send them my way.
